S1: Coming up on KPBS roundtable. Last week's ice raid at an East County business resulted in the arrest of several workers , leaving many in the community shaken. The raid comes as the Trump administration continues its push for mass deportations , employing wartime measures in the process. We take a closer look at what the numbers say.
S2: The numbers are not really that striking , but the nature of the deportations is very different.
S1: Local border reporters share more on what the data say and what they're seeing in the San Diego Tijuana region. Then a conversation with KPBS most recent Gloria Penner fellow. That's ahead on KPBS roundtable. This week , US Customs and Border Protection announced a record drop in the number of apprehensions of migrants crossing illegally along the US-Mexico border. The Trump administration continues its efforts at mass deportations , upending the nation's immigration policies in the process. And many of those actions are now facing legal challenges. We wanted to talk more about what's been happening on our streets and at our borders here in the San Diego Tijuana region. And here to do that , I'm joined by KPBS investigative border reporter Gustavo Solis , along with Elliot Baggett. He is the immigration news editor with the Associated Press. I want to welcome you both back to roundtable. Gustavo , I want to start with you. The last time we had you on , I think it was in February sometime , and you had kind of talked about this environment around the fear of these mass deportations , these fear of immigration raids. But we really hadn't seen a lot of evidence of those happening yet , but at least partially , that changed last week with a story that took you out to El Cajon.
S3: We started getting text and calls of people freaking out about a raid , an ice raid , which that itself is not normal. I've gotten a lot of calls and texts about rates that don't materialize , but what was rare was that this one did. Uh , so I just I was at the station at the time. I just drove down to the address and I saw several , uh , dozens and dozens of federal agents , uh , around this industrial paint shop in El Cajon. No one could go in. No one could go out. And there were the coworkers , you know , kind of lingering outside. Uh , family members were starting to come in , uh , trying to figure out what happened. So there were , you know , daughters crying , mothers asking where their sons were , coworkers just hanging out , waiting for their friends to get out or whether they would get out. It was kind of it was a scene. Yeah. And it was a workplace raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They arrested about 15 people.
S1:
S3: But the other ones is kind of unclear , right ? So they arrested about 15 , charged for. So we're the other 11. I have kept up with some of their families. I know for a fact that one has already been deported. He's in Tijuana. A couple others are still being detained at the Otay Mesa Detention Center. Uh , I know some of them have lawyers. I've been in touch with their families. Some of them are U.S. citizens. Uh , One of the men is married to a US citizen , has four US citizen children , is a youth soccer coach and they're trying very hard to to bail them out. So it kind of depends on on the individual.
S1: And Elliotte I want to bring you in now. I mean , do you cover immigration at the national level in your role and associated with the Associated Press , not just here in San Diego ? I mean , how does this , you know , El Cajon raid fit into what you've been seeing more nationally in immigration enforcement ? Sure.
S2: Well , it's it's I think it's a period of great uncertainty. The numbers , the deportation arrests are up from what they were under under Biden , but not dramatically. I think it's about it was about 300 a day under last year and about , you know , 700 this year , which which is a percentage increase is fairly large , but it's still nothing like the mass deportations that that Trump promised. But you are seeing , I mean , a difference in the the nature of the deportation. So what what what Gustavo just described was not what you would not see that under Biden. He you know , he limited himself for the most part to people with criminal records , people who are stopped at the border , which are which is a much larger number under him than Trump. But that's another story. But yeah , you know , more of these workplace raids and really much more beyond that. I mean , we saw the workplace raids before under Trump , under George W Bush , in a much bigger way. For example , a Mississippi chicken processing plants. 700 people were arrested. We haven't seen that kind of show of force yet , but but , um , you know , the nature of the of the deportation. So , I mean , the , the biggest , you know , the most the most striking example was last month , when about 300 Venezuelans were sent to El Salvador under the Wartime Wartime Powers Act. Alien Enemies Act , which hasn't hasn't been , hadn't been invoked since World War two. They were. It was very secretive. You know , Trump signed it. And a day before it was published on the website and during that time was preparing a bunch of people , bringing them down to Texas. Very dramatic story. I mean , ACLU was getting word of it. They sued. Um , and the judge came in on a Saturday afternoon and in his street clothes and said , you know , you have to turn the planes around. And there was a lot of back and forth and. And then , you know , he said , the Justice Department attorney said , well , they're in international airspace. And , you know , the next morning , President Buckley of El Salvador said , oops , too late. So , you know , flaunting the judge's order , really ? And the judge was extremely angry. And these people are now in the high , you know , high security prison , maximum security prison in El Salvador. And under this wartime act , they're given no due process , no legal safeguards. So they can't answer the evidence , they can't appear before a judge. They're just put on a plane. And because they are affiliated or deemed to be affiliated with a gang of a Venezuelan gang. They are. They're gone. They're in El Salvador. But there have been other cases , too. Like the students , there's one in Columbia University that's gotten a lot of attention. But one woman at Tufts who , you know , the administration is very open that they were deported because of their pro-Palestinian activism. They call them terrorists. Now , what that means , you know , where they just demonstrating or were they , you know , providing financial support to Hamas ? You know , none of those details. We don't know. They just say they're terrorists. So those people are a lot of them are in , uh , in detention in Louisiana , in rural Louisiana. So , you know , these are cases that are really unusual. And also a lot of Asians getting deported to Panama and , and , and Costa Rica. And so in Panama , they were freed for 30 days. They were sent they were sent to a jungle detention camp and then freed for 30 , told to leave the country in 30 days. And now they're we had a story a few days ago where they're walking around the the capital of Panama from embassy to embassy. Looking for asylum. So very unusual. Like the nature of the deportations is very different. The numbers are not not really that striking , but the nature of the deportations is very different.
S1: And on that , that different nature , I think , um , I mean , you kind of delved into some of it there.
S2: I think it was revolving around concerns about a French invasion , uh , used three times in the War of 1812 , World War one and World War two , leading up to the internment of Japanese. And , uh , it hasn't been used. It hadn't been used since then. Trump , you know , said during the campaign that he was going to invoke it. He said again , he said on his the first day of , of his term that he was going to invoke it. So it wasn't a surprise , but we didn't know exactly when and how. And , you know , the how was really was really striking. So he , you know , these people were were , as I mentioned , you know , sent around from around the country. They were sent to South Texas to a detention center near , uh , near Brownsville and , and put on a plane. And so there was there were a lot of rumors floating around among lawyers that something was afoot , that they were going to be sent somewhere. But it was all done very , you know , quietly. So. So nothing really became public until it spilled out in the in the courtroom in this extraordinary hearing on Saturday afternoon and in Washington , DC. And it's ongoing. I mean , that that fight is ongoing. Um , the President Trump and his , his his team has been very critical of this judge , uh , and called for his impeachment. Uh , and and that prompted an angry response from , uh , Chief Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts , uh , the attorney for the ACLU , uh , legal , has has said that this is sort of teetering or approaching a constitutional crisis. ISIS. It's part of the whole , you know , the Trump's. Trump administration. Very. I would say , you know , maybe not combative , but very , very aggressive , uh , approach toward the judiciary , uh , really , really going and criticizing individual judges for , for for blocking his policies.
S1: One piece of this that I think I've heard from you , Gustavo , you know , a couple of times in your reporting. Um , looking into how , you know , Trump's efforts to kind of remake immigration , this effort at mass deportations is the rhetoric versus the reality of it , the data. And , you know , sort of the perception of that. And , you know , you spoke with an immigration expert who delved into a lot of that data and kind of how it can be manipulated in a sense.
S3: The borders are on multiple interviews and national television talking about how they are prioritizing national security threats. Uh , the worst of the worst are words he used. That's not happening in San Diego. In San Diego , like I said , there were nonviolent offenders. Uh , so you can't really do the worst of the worst , but also have these folks over there. And the data does reflect that. If you look at the I use detention data every couple of weeks , they they post a report. And the biggest growth uh , they break it down by category of criminality. Right. It's , um , convict the criminal pending criminal case and other immigration violation. The fastest growing category is other immigration violations. So you can see the data shows that as these arrests are ramping up , the single biggest group growing within his detention are folks who don't have a violent criminal record. So it kind of contradicts a little bit of what's put out there. Ice has been pretty active on social media. Kind of highlighting individual examples , mug shots of individuals with with their name and the title , you know , wanted for human trafficking , wanted for murder , wanted for sex crimes against children. And those are all legitimate cases. They're horrible people that most folks , most Americans would say , yes , they probably should be prioritized for deportation , but they're not necessarily reflective of all of the folks who are getting caught in the in the enforcement right now.
S1: Recently , Pew Research released a report on the support of deportations from across the country. And I know this is something that you were looking into , Gustavo , because on the face of it , you know , there is support , but there's a little more to it than just. Are you in support of deportations , yes or no ? Right.
S3: And it kind of speaks exactly to to what we're talking about. So there's two questions. The first one is like , would you say that blank immigrants without status should be deported ? All some or none. About 31/3 at all. So all undocumented immigrants should be deported. 50% said some. And the cool thing about this survey is that we went a step further and kind of broke it down. All right. Of the people who said some immigrants without status should be deported. Where do you draw the line ? So the first one was convicted of violent crimes. 97% said yes , they should be deported , then committed nonviolent crimes. It drops down to 52% arrived in the country in the last four years. It drops to 44%. And then you start to see the real drop in support for deportations. They have a job. Only 15% of people said immigrants in the country without status who have a job should be prioritized for deportation. Our parents of children born in the US. It drops down to 14%. Came to the US as children. It drops down to 9%. And the last one was married to a U.S. citizen. It drops down to 5% for support for the deportation. So you can see there's broad support for deporting violent criminals who have convictions. But then it starts to really , really , uh , lose support as soon as you get down into some of these more complex , nuanced cases.
S1: When we come back , we continue our immigration conversation with our local border reporters. Stay tuned. Roundtable's back after the break. You're listening to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. Today we're talking about migration in the San Diego Tijuana region and beyond. And I'm joined by KPBS , Gustavo Solis , along with Elliot Baggett of the Associated Press. Earlier this week , as we mentioned , U.S. Customs and Border Protection released new data showing the fewest number of migrants caught illegally crossing the US-Mexico border. And that's the lowest on record.
S2: Tell me if you could give me something more exact , but it was 7000 plus arrests along the southwest border , along the Mexican border. This is by the Border Patrol. People crossing the border illegally in 2000. October. Excuse me. December 2023. It was 250,000. So that's like a 97% decline or something ? Yeah. From from. It went from 250,000 , you know , just 14 months ago. Right. Um , 15 months ago , um , to about 50,000. Uh , in Biden's last month. So a very significant drop. And that was because Mexico increased enforcement within its own borders. And then the and then Biden introduced some very severe asylum restrictions in in June. But then when Trump took office , it's uh , it's plummeted significantly like. Like I said , down to about 7000 a month. It was 8000in February. And , you know , nobody remembers that. They say , you know , it's they say the lowest in history. That's not quite true. That's the lowest since like the , uh , mid 60s , uh , the lowest clip. So really extraordinary. I mean , I I'm talking to someone , an agent in Yuma a few days ago who said that they had one arrest in in a 24 hour period. And this is an area that had like 1500 to 2000 not not long ago. So I don't know. I mean , remember that the numbers dropped almost as low. I think it was 15 , 11,000. In April 2017 , after Trump took office , and they called it the Trump effect. You know , everyone was kind of in a wait and see mode. The smugglers were waiting. Everyone's kind of just just so , you know , I would not venture to say that it's going to remain the slow , but it's it's I was surprised at how low , how low it's gotten.
S1:
S3: And you can see it on the other side of the border. I was in Tijuana yesterday. Uh , migrant shelters are like 25% capacity. Just not a lot there. Some folks are thinking about laying off staff just because they don't have the work anymore. So it is really extraordinary. I was driving it. That's another question. I think there's a lot of factors. Some of them we can point to , like Trump policies , Trump rhetoric , more enforcement on the Mexican side. Um , but I don't know if that explains everything.
S2: Yeah , I'm a little bit confused by it because , I mean , uh , I've been to some shelters in Tijuana and Mexicali , and they're both they're all pretty , I wouldn't say. Well , a lot of them are empty , and then some of them are sort of half empty or the lowest , you know , they've been in a long time. And then we also had a crew in Tapachula near the Guatemala border , and they couldn't find anyone either. So there's a lot of people who were kind of on the , in the , on the route and mostly a lot in Mexico waiting for these CBP one appointments , uh , to , to get into the United States. Uh , those are the those on that online app where people were allowed in. I think it was , uh , how many people ? I think it was 900,000 under Biden. And it stopped on day one and the appointments were canceled. So a lot of those people , those are the people that are in the shelters right now , but not as many as I , I expected. So I'm not sure where people where everyone is. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. What are the experiences of migrants you've been speaking with because you were you've been down in Tijuana earlier this week as well , Gustavo , as you mentioned , right.
S3: Yeah , actually I had a it was a really cool experience because you saw kind of both sides of the situation. I spoke to a Guatemalan man in his 20s. He had a CBP one appointment for January 23rd. He came to Tijuana January 22nd , so he couldn't get in. And I was expecting to hear what I hear from what I've been hearing from other migrants for years. Right. Devastation. I don't know what I'm going to do. He wasn't really bothered by it. He said , oh , you know what ? I'm just going to stay in Mexico for now. Do a little bit of work. And then eventually I'll go back home to to Guatemala. I really only wanted to go to the US for work. And I said , wait , like , you know , I've talked to other folks who say going home is not an option , that they'll die if they go home. Yeah. That's that. That's not my case. You know , things are calm in my house. In my home there. There's plenty of work over there. It's actually kind of nice. I just wanted to see what the U.S. is like. My dad is over there , so it would be nice to see him. So that speaks to the argument Republicans were making , right ? That CBP won or really the entire US asylum system folks are abusing it and filing faulty or illegitimate or just weak or poor faith asylum claims as a way to get into the country. In this case , it's a guy that wanted to work. He didn't have options for a legal work visa there. As far as I know. There's very , very difficult to get a work visa for low wage , low skilled work. So instead of that , in the absence of that , he chose the only open legal avenue which was the KVP one appointment. So I think the job , maybe a lot of folks who were in that situation turned around and went home. But then I heard from another person in that shelter from Nicaragua , a member of the LGBTQ community who was terrified of going back home. He also had a CBP one appointment. He didn't feel safe in Tijuana or Mexico , either because he was experiencing discrimination for his identity. So you you see kind of what happens , right ? This approach of just shutting everything down , eliminating the asylum system for most people. You do get the desired outcome of folks who weren't really legitimate turning around and going home. But in that , you also impact a lot of folks who are in a real desperate and dire and legitimate need of humanitarian protection in the US. So it was a really interesting experience. Just kind of seeing how different groups are impacted by this. Really just like a tough policy. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. I mean , I think that just maybe brings into sharper relief a problem that's been evident for the last decade or so , which is , you know , the asylum system was built after World War two for people fleeing persecution for very specific reasons. And it became kind of the only route for people to get in. And many of those cases are deserving , but many are not under under the letter of the law. In fact , you know , most you know , the the approval rates vary. But but most people lose their asylum cases. Um , and you know , but the idea was , you know , you get in , you claim asylum and the courts are backlogged with like 4 million cases , close to 4 million cases , and it takes like 6 or 7 years to get a decision. You get a work permit during that time. After six months , you get a work permit. So for like this Guatemalan man , you know. I don't know how he claims asylum , but. Yeah. Or , you know , he didn't get in the U.S. , but but.
S3: He had the appointment. He had the.
S2: Appointment for an appointment which would give him two years. And then he could , you know , worry about it later , right ? Yeah. So it became this it's there really is no long term solution. And now the people who are really , really desperate , who are deserving of asylum are not able to get in. The Trump administration says go to the go to the land cross and go to San Ysidro and claim asylum. But from what I yeah , I mean , I don't think that's really no , I haven't seen the numbers , but yeah , it's not happening. I mean and Trump has declared a national emergency because of this. So so they're they're pretty much as I understand asylum is pretty much shut down right now at the border.
S1: And when we've had you both on before , the conversation often goes to comprehensive immigration reform and what that would look like and how far it always seems away from happening. I'm curious. Yeah. Just your thoughts on that in the current environment.
S3: Now , I don't know if you could call it reform , but I think it was symbolic that the first one was immigration. Um , before the election , they had the bipartisan border bill that a lot of Democrats passed. Both of them increase enforcement and had a lot of criticism from from progressive groups. But I haven't really heard calls or efforts to do something now. I mean , it seems like Trump is just kind of doing whatever he and Stephen Miller and Tom Homan want , and they'll figure it out later. If a court gets in the way , they can , you know , kind of be aggressive and challenge it. But yeah , I'm not sure. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. I mean , I think this comprehensive immigration reform idea has been around for decades , and I don't think it means anything anymore. I mean , it's just the discussion. The debate has shifted so far on the to the enforcement side , to the right. The Lincoln Riley Act was all enforcement. It required um , uh , detention for , you know , for people convicted of of minor crimes and , uh.
S3: Oh , not just convicted. It was mandatory arrested for people , um , arrested , charged or convicted and arrested is just suspected.
S2: So really. Right.
S3: People suspected of theft were supposed to be detained indefinitely. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. And it empowers states that want to impose anti-immigration laws to , uh , you know , uh , gives them more , more authority to do that. So , you know , that was 100% enforcement bill. Uh , right now , one thing I'm really looking at closely is the continuing resolution CR , uh , the funding bill , um , for the rest of the fiscal year. Um , my understanding is the numbers that I've read are about $175 billion for immigration enforcement , which is which is pretty astounding. So , I mean , all these all these debates in Congress , I think the Democrats are many of them , certainly not all of them , certainly not all of them , but many of them are are lining up behind Trump's policy to some , you know , to some extent they some of them did vote for the Lincoln Riley Act. So , yeah , I mean , that's kind of where things are politically.
S3: And on the you make a good point , right. The funding is mostly going to enforcement. Right. The new policies are going to enforcement. But what's being removed is also like the other side of it. Right. They're investing more in enforcement , but they are firing immigration judges. So there's less on that end.
S2: That's like a Doge thing , I think. Yeah , the the firing of the immigration judges. But yeah.
S3: But like like similarly I guess another Doge thing. Right. They're they're increasing potentially spending on the CR , but organizations that provide free legal representation for undocumented children lost their funding. Right. So you can kind of if you look at funding as priorities , they're prioritizing enforcement and the prioritizing adjudication and the legal aspect of it.
S1: Gustavo , we started this conversation talking about this raid you covered in El Cajon , and you're still covering the impacts of that raid.
S3: There's the individual impact , right ? A woman whose husband was detained , she hasn't left the house. She's terrified of leaving the house because she also doesn't have status. Um , I mentioned the the father of two U.S. citizens. He was the primary earner. So now the family is facing financial ruin over over that decision. So that's another impact. There is the kind of local political impact. It's interesting or noteworthy that the raid happened in El Cajon , which is a city whose mayor has been very vocal about wanting to support Trump's immigration policies as much as possible. So there have been some protests against the mayor of El Cajon pointing the finger at him as potentially , and he goes on national television , says he regularly speaks with Tom Homan on the phone. So so that's been kind of an interesting narrative to to look at. But but yeah , I like to focus on the human impact. So I'll be curious to see what happens to the folks who who were detained , who are currently detained. How many of them are deported ? I know some of them have immigration lawyers already who are fighting it. Some of them , uh , were in the process of adjusting their status. So it's kind of unclear what this means because they kind of were already doing the process. Um , and then just the community at large. Right. There's always a ripple effect when one raid happens. Uh , other folks in the community are afraid to be caught up in the next one. Um , so that'll also kind of be interesting to see how that plays out here in San Diego. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. I'd also be interested to like what is the impact in El Cajon ? Um , like the mayor , uh , residents and the neighbors , uh , the customers of this of this company , because , I mean , AP did a poll that similar to the pew , uh , you know , it showed overwhelmingly overwhelming bipartisan support. At 85% , I forget exactly something around there to deport people with criminal with violent criminal records. But it was pretty split on , you know , whether to deport all , all people. Uh , and , you know , when you get in , we did a story. This is coming out , I think , on Saturday about this small , uh , this bakery that in , um , Los Fresno's Texas on the border where it's very popular. I mean , they've been they're one of the pillar businesses of this small town. And they got they got raided and the employees were living there at the place. And , uh , there was a lot of protest. I mean , I don't have a sense of whether it was overwhelming opposition and how many of the protesters were from out of town or what. But definitely , like the mayor and others were upset about about what happened and that the bakery had to close. There were big source of revenue. These people are very , apparently very good people in the community. So as you get , you know , as it becomes apparent that not everyone is a gang member , I say that somewhat facetiously , because we know that that that is an exaggeration. But , you know , that's kind of the the narrative that the administration wants to promote is it becomes apparent that , you know , people are yeah , they have families. They're in the , you know , valued community members. I wonder if the , you know , the public support will be there. Uh , I don't know.
S1: We'll have to end it there. I mean , we'll continue following this on KPBS with Gustavo's reporting also. Elliott , I've been speaking with Elliott Baggett. He's an immigration news editor from the Associated Press. Along with KPBS , Gustavo Solis. Gustavo. Elliot , thanks again for being here.
S3: Thank you.
S2: Thank you. Andrew.
S1: Up next , we hear from KPBS , most recent Gloria Penner fellow on her experiences in the KPBS newsroom.
S4: I think the most challenging part of the fellowship was really just feeling like I belonged here. I had a lot of imposter syndrome when I first started. One day , just things clicked.
S1: That's ahead on roundtable. You're listening to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. So here on roundtable , part of what we like to do is take you a little bit behind the scenes of what it's like to be a reporter here at KPBS. This week , we're featuring one of our recent news fellows doing great work in our newsroom. The Gloria Penner Fellow. That fellowship , named after the late KPBS news icon , is focused on political reporting , assisting with television , radio and web stories. And for the past year , Elaine Alfaro has filled that role. And she's really made it her own with reporting investigative pieces and producing on Midday Edition and a lot more. And we wanted to chat with Lainie about her experience here. So , Lainie , welcome to roundtable.
S4: Hey , thanks for having me.
S1: Great to have you here.
S4: Gloria Penner was a senior political correspondent. She hosted Roundtable and Midday and just wore a lot of hats in the newsroom. She played an active part in KPBS election coverage for 30 years , and that's really the inspiration for this fellowship. She created a fund for the station , and the station has continued to bring in a recent grad or an early career person every year to cover politics and democracy. And I got to take part in that this year.
S1: And what a year to do that , right. So much. A lot of news this year. So I wanted to kind of go a little bit back in your past.
S4: I mean , I grew up watching CBS Sunday Mornings with my mom and having that , like , moment of silence. Yeah , and I loved that part. But more importantly , I loved the long form , the like , in-depth conversations they got to have with all these different big names that , like , you know , all of us have seen in the movies or that sort of thing. And then I also was like an avid reader and writer. I read comic strips. I drew my own as a kid. So , um , senior year , I think , is when I really knew senior year of high school is when I knew I wanted to kind of go to the journalism path. I did this like school project where I got to cover the food scene in la mesa , and at the time , like downtown la mesa was having this huge , like , growth. And I got to interview a few different restaurant owners. And I just loved getting to write about my city , the city I grew up in in la mesa. So that's kind of where it started. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And I think that's one thing that makes your experience unique. I mean , you're you're from here. You mentioned you're from East County in la mesa. How has that perspective helped you tell stories in and around our region in San Diego ? Right.
S4: I think just being a local , being someone who grew up here , who like , knows the area , who would randomly like , I feel like I just randomly made different connections or develop different relationships with a lot of people. Growing up in San Diego. Like the mayor of la mesa , um , doctor A was my junior theater director. And then when I started , like , writing a stories of la mesa , I , like , interviewed him for stories , but I already had that , like , relationship connection already. And then just interviewing restaurants , restaurant owners in high school just kind of gave me a pulse on the business community. And I think just like networking in San Diego was just part of growing up in San Diego. And it wasn't even like a formal thing. It just was like a natural thing that happened. And so I think that really framed like how I started doing journalism. I just wanted to tell the stories of my community and like the people I grew up with and I knew.
S1: So yeah , let's talk more about the stories you wanted to tell.
S4: I think it's something new every day and usually multiple things happening at once. So for part of the day , I'd be working with the midday team either on a segment or a whole show. Then in the background , I'd be working on pitches or like just developing other story ideas. And then maybe in the afternoon I'd run to an interview or schedule a shoot. Other days I'd get to shadow a reporter or train with our Vijay Mikey. And , um , so it was like I said , kind of multiple things happening at once. When I was on deadline for a story , I'd really be , like , locked in on that. Um , but I really feel like in this fellowship , I really made it what I wanted it to be. And I just was constantly asking , you know , if I could do stuff. I was volunteering , I was raising my hand. So that was what my day looked like. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And it feels like you've done so much in your time here. So , I mean , tell us a little bit about what some of the favorite stories you've worked on while here.
S4: When I was like looking through the stuff I got to work on. I just like it's one of those things where I felt like , oh , I have to pinch myself that this is actually like , this is where I am in my career , in this moment. I would say on midday , my favorite show I pitched and produced was definitely like the History of Soccer show , looking at like the soccer scene in San Diego. And it's been really cool to see KPBS continue to expand its coverage of the sport through soccer at La Frontera. But I would say I'm really most proud of the long form investigative or feature stories I got to do on local politics and democracy. I did a lot of stuff on like language access and elections , and I'm just really passionate about that work. Well.
S1: Well. And like we said , I mean , it was a really eventful year in democracy and local politics as well. So , I mean , one interesting thing about your experience here as a fellow with KPBS is you pretty much did the first half of it while you were still in school , and that was at Point Loma Nazarene University. You were the editor in chief of that school's newspaper , The Joint Weekly.
S4: I feel like going from classes to KPBS at work and then back to classes , it definitely was something I had to learn how to to juggle. I also was an RA at school. And so , um , just planning like events for my students in my hall and then also , you know , working it just it was a lot. Um , when I started the fellowship , I actually stepped down from , um , being the editor in chief because I knew it would be a lot to do everything in my last semester. So I was just a staff writer that last semester. But , um , I feel like through all of that , like , I feel like I just learned so much about journalism , um , from the classes I was taking and also from what I was doing here.
S1: And a lot of conversations we have around our newsroom is around the future of journalism. I think there's , you know , a lot of talk about how young people may not be , you know , watching the news like they were like. It's really a changing space. And I think a lot of news organizations are trying to figure out how to tell stories today.
S4: I feel like I'm I'm a little out of touch with social media. I don't really have TikTok. And I know that's kind of where a lot of our news is heading towards these , um , you know , short , attention grabbing videos. But I think if I were to , like , speak realistically , like hopeful , what I would like to see for the future of news , it really comes down to , um , local news outlets , small neighborhood , community oriented news really makes an impact on communities. And I've like , seen that firsthand , um , working for smaller newspapers in and around San Diego. I also think , um , if we're to like to continue to be part of what the future of news looks like. I would love to see stories that embrace creativity and humanity. Even with these short videos on like TikTok or social media , that if they could go into like community spaces , um , and really cover beloved , you know , restaurants or parks or those sorts of things , like people want to see themselves reflected in the news , um , and not just people who look like them , but the spaces and the places that they're in. Um , I don't think I'm saying anything like revolutionary or different , but , like , that's kind of what I try to keep in mind when I'm thinking about stories that I pitch and that I want to tell. I also hope that , like journalism would stick to what its roots are , even when things are hard , um , and get more difficult , um , holding systems of power accountable. We really need that right now.
S1: Well , and that kind of transitions into your current work with KPBS. You're working with our investigative news team. Tell us more about some of the work you're doing now in that role.
S4: It's really been such an awesome transition going to the investigative team. They are also stellar and there's just so much to learn from all of them. In my role , I'm an archivist and a researcher. I also sometimes wear different hats and help out with admin stuff on the team. But the main thing I've really been enjoying doing on this team is working with them on their public records requests and helping them plan out ideas and story ideas sourced from our tip line. And so I really do see myself going down this investigative route for my career. And so I feel like I'm really hitting the ground running by joining this team right now.
S1: So earlier , you kind of talked about some of your favorite stories that you've gotten to work on. I was just thinking , you know , who's who are some of the more interesting people you've been able to interview or that you know you've met in your reporting here at KPBS.
S4: In the last like three months ? I feel like I've not peaked because I'm so early , but like so early career. But I've interviewed a few people that I just was like , I had to pinch myself when I was doing it. I got to interview Maria Sanchez and Melanie Barzani's for soccer a la Frontera.
S1: They're both with San Diego Wave FC , right ? Yes.
S4: Yes. And I just grew up and I'm still a huge soccer fan. And so getting to talk to these legends in women's soccer was just so I was just so starstruck. And I was like , I remember trying to keep it together in the interview , like trying to play it cool and afterward being in my car like , ah , I can't believe this just happened. So I would say , like , that moment is definitely up there for me. Also , getting to interview the actor Elphaba , the actor playing Elphaba in , uh , the Broadway San Diego tour of wicked was just so cool. I was a theater kid growing up. Um , and so getting to talk to this actor about her experience touring and I got to watch her get green ified because the character Elphaba has green skin in the show , in the in the musical. And so , yeah , I would say those those interviews will forever stay with me.
S1: Well , in a lot of those stories kind of are tied into San Diego. They feature people. Melanie Martinez , right , is she grew up in San Diego , just like you as well. So kind of a nod to your , um , you know , to your la mesa roots and your connection to the community here. I'm curious. You know , you kind of mentioned some of the challenges in journalism today.
S4: There were challenging moments , but I feel like I just , you know , would learn like if it was learning how to write a script or like trying to understand how podcasts show operates. Like , those are things I just would like , ask questions and learn about. I think the most challenging part of the fellowship was really just feeling like I belonged here. I had a lot of imposter syndrome when I first started. And like , I would worry like , oh , do I really deserve to be here in a real newsroom ? I'm still in school. I feel so young. Like , um , I was timid to talk to editors at first , and there's no reason for that. Everyone here has been so kind and , um , has answered all my questions and really , um , made me feel welcomed. But I remember just , like , being so nervous coming into the newsroom every day. I remember , like , having to hype myself up and one day just things clicked. And I don't know if it's like there wasn't a clear answer for how I got over that challenge , but I just feel like every day , like finding confidence and making space for myself here and pitching ideas and just being more confident in who I am and what I bring to the table was definitely the biggest learning curve. Um , but I think I figured out.
S1: Well , you know , just I don't think you need this , you know , I don't think you need this reminder. But just to answer that question , yes , you do belong at KPBS. And congratulations. Um , so the application just opened for KPBS. Next , Gloria Penner , fellow.
S4: There is so much to learn from KPBS in the whole newsroom and the whole team here. I could list so many different names of people who have made an impact in my journey , and I think whoever steps into this fellowship next , like your list , is going to be even longer , because there's so many good people here who just want to teach you and help you along and your goals for journalism. So go apply.
S1: Laney , it's been great to have you here. Congratulations again. And , you know , hope you continue your great work here at KPBS. I've been speaking with Elaine Alfaro. She's the most recent Gloria Penner fellow here at KPBS. and she's currently a researcher and archivist with our investigative news team. Lainey. Thanks again.
S4: Thank you so much , Andrew.
S1: That's our show for today. Thanks so much for listening to KPBS roundtable. You can listen to the show anytime as a podcast. Roundtable airs on KPBS FM at noon , Fridays again , Sundays at 6 a.m.. If you have any thoughts on today's show or , you know , ideas for a future one , you can email us at roundtable at KPBS or leave us a message at (619) 452-0228. Roundtable's technical producer this week was Brandon Truffaut. The show was produced by Ashley Rush. Brooke Ruth is Roundtable's senior producer. Supervising audio producer is Quinn Owen , and I'm Andrew Bracken. Thanks again for listening and have a great weekend.
