ICLS gala, Essayli's authority questioned

Legal nonprofit honors attorney, Pride Bar, Amazon

*California Central District Judge Sunshine Sykes | James Roberson*

Inland Counties Legal Services (ICLS) hosted its 5th annual Advocates for Justice celebration on October 24 at The Mitten Building in Redlands, bringing together volunteers, attorneys, judges, and community partners to honor those advancing justice across the Inland Empire.

The evening's keynote address was delivered by the California Central District Judge Sunshine Sykes.

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Public defenders file to disqualify Essayli from acting as US Attorney

Bill Essayli cannot legally execute the office of the US Attorney for the Central District of California, federal public defenders argue in defense of a Riverside man. Essayli was first placed in charge of the department when appointed by US Attorney General Pamela Bondi on April 2, but has not been approved by the US Senate.

“Mr. Essayli is improperly serving as a non-confirmed US Attorney at least thrice over,” the motion reads.

The authority of US attorneys nationwide are challenged. Two-hundred and seventy-nine days into Trump’s second president, only 18 US Attorneys are confirmed throughout the nation’s 94 districts, according to the Department of Justice. Twenty-three are “acting” US Attorneys, like Essayli, meaning that they are the highest-ranked prosecutor in the office, and are acting as US Attorney in the absence of a confirmed head of the department. New York Attorney General Letitia James, facing mortgage charges, filed a similar motion to dismiss on Friday, arguing that Lindsey Halligan cannot prosecute cases as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

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Sen. Eloise Gómez Reyes ends session with trucking, inmate firefighter bills signed

*Assemblywomen Luz Rivas, left, Eloise Gómez Reyes and Wendy Carrillo speak on the floor on September 12, 2019. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters*

Sen. Eloise Gómez Reyes (D-San Bernardino) has been busy this legislative session. She authored 18 bills, with nine of those signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Overall, Newsom signed 785 bills into law and vetoed 123, as CalMatters’ Lynn La reported last week.

The attorney and former House majority leader pushed through the bills despite undergoing cancer treatment after her diagnosis last December of cancer.

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Suit forces UC San Diego scholarship for Black California students to accept white applicants

*Students walk through campus at UC San Diego on Sept. 22, 2025. Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters*

A scholarship for Black students at UC San Diego is now available to anyone, regardless of race, after students and a right-leaning nonprofit organization sued the university for discrimination this July.

The plaintiffs argued that the scholarship fund violated a series of laws, including the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, which was put in place to protect Black Americans in the South.

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Northern California school district sues U.S. Department of Education over slashed mental health grants

In April, the Department of Education notified McKinleyville Union and 48 other grant recipients that it would cancel roughly $168 million in remaining funds for mental health services to students in California. The lawsuit is the first on behalf of a single school district in California, as the state’s case against the Trump administration remains in limbo. Without the funding, California schools are set to lose hundreds of counselors, social workers and mental health support staff on Dec. 31.

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California sued over bond program that sends more money to fix facilities in wealthy school districts

A public-interest law firm filed a lawsuit Thursday against the state of California, charging that its program to subsidize school construction perpetuates vast inequalities for students in low-wealth communities. Public school students in some districts’ splendid campuses enjoy modern science labs, shaded outdoor spaces, and spacious auditoriums, while their peers in other districts attend rundown schools in deplorable conditions. At the heart of this issue is the state’s reliance on local property taxes in districts with vastly different abilities to finance school facility renovations, the lawsuit said.

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We Found That More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.

*Leonardo Garcia Venegas was detained by immigration agents while filming a raid on his worksite, despite having a REAL ID on him and telling the officers he was a citizen.*

When the Supreme Court recently allowed immigration agents in the Los Angeles area to take race into consideration during sweeps, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that citizens shouldn’t be concerned.

“If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States,” Kavanaugh wrote, “they promptly let the individual go.”

But that is far from the reality many citizens have experienced. Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents. They’ve had their necks kneeled on. They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear. At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them. One of those women had already had the door of her home blown off while Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem watched.

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Trump’s DOJ is sending election monitors to California with voting on Prop. 50 underway

*Voters fill out their ballots at San Francisco City Hall on Super Tuesday in 2020. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters*

The Trump administration’s Department of Justice will deploy election monitors to five California counties on Election Day, the department announced Friday, in what it describes as an effort to “ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law.”

The news comes as voters are already casting ballots on Proposition 50, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to redraw the state’s congressional districts to favor Democrats. Early in-person voting is set to begin this weekend in many counties.

Who monitors the monitors?

Asylum-seekers now held for days – in a downtown San Diego basement

*People arriving for immigration check-ins are detained and taken to the basement of the court building in San Diego on Oct. 21, 2025. (Photo by Adrian Childress/Times of San Diego)*

All of the immigrants received letters in the mail. For some, it was anticipated — a notice for a routine annual check-in. Other letters, sent to people whose deportation cases had been frozen years ago, were vague, asking them to appear at the ICE office at the courthouse in downtown San Diego “in connection with an official matter.”

According to their attorneys, most of these people would not traditionally have been detained. Instead, when they arrived at court, they were handcuffed and held in a makeshift prison in the basement of the court building itself. They would not leave for days.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, over the past two weeks, have detained increasing numbers inside their offices, according to detainees, their relatives, court observers, and immigration attorneys.

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