Of all the insidious threats faced by wildland firefighters — extreme heat, desiccated forests, unpredictable fire behavior and a nearly year-round fire season — what might be the most fearsome?

Humans.

People do dangerous things, things that start wildfires. Pushing a burning car into a gully. Mowing the lawn on a hot summer day. Miswiring a hot tub. Driving cars with flat tires. Burning toilet paper rather than packing it out of a campsite. Setting off smoke bombs at gender reveal parties.

In hot, dry conditions already primed for fire, people’s actions can quickly escalate from a harmless mistake — such as hammering a metal stake into the parched ground — to igniting a blaze that kills a firefighter.

People — whether purposeful, reckless or simply careless — are responsible for about 95% of California’s wildfires. Last year alone, people caused more than 7,000 wildfires in California; nationally, it was more than 50,000.

“Humans are incredibly predictable,” said Cal Fire Battalion Chief David Acuna. “They drag chains and they leave campfires to burn or they have a flat tire but think they can juuust make it to the next exit.

“It’s people not using appropriate judgment,” he added, “They are not looking at what they are doing and whether or not it’s going to start a fire. I believe in the ability of humans to recognize what is not in their best interest, but people constantly prove me wrong.”

Add to the list the Park Fire, a fierce fire raging across 600 square miles in four Sacramento Valley counties that is already the fifth largest in California history. Butte County authorities arrested a 42-year-old Chico man suspected of pushing a burning vehicle into a ravine.

Human action, tragically, also may have caused the 57,300-acre Borel Fire in Kern County, which began last week on the side of Highway 178, possibly sparked when a vehicle crashed, killing the driver.

In a summer of severe fires, with dangerous lightning storms possible in coming weeks, authorities wish people would stop doing stupid stuff. Nature doesn’t need any help starting fires.

That would include the man accused of driving his truck for more than four miles, minus a front tire, in Sonoma County last week. The metal scraping on the road sparked the Flora Fire, a small blaze east of Healdsburg. The fire was contained last Sunday and a suspect is in custody. Cal Fire lists the cause as “vehicle.”

“I believe in the ability of humans to recognize what is not in their best interest, but people constantly prove me wrong.”
— David Acuna, Cal Fire Battalion Chief

A similar maneuver started the 2018 Carr Fire near Redding. The fire, which killed three people fighting the fire and five civilians and burned nearly 230,000 acres, was ignited by a spark caused by someone driving a trailer with a flat tire.

Another major human cause is related to institutions — the power utilities — rather than reckless individuals. “Since 2015, power lines have caused six of the state’s 20 most destructive wildfires,” according to a 2022 report from the State Auditor’s office. California’s most-deadly fire, the 2018 Camp Fire, which killed 85 people, was started by arcing transmission lines whipped by high winds.

Natural causes still play a significant role, especially lightning, which could become even a bigger threat with climate change.

Intentional arson is rare in wildfires

Arsonists purposefully setting fires is not common, accounting for about 10% of California fires, depending on the year. Last year 111 people were arrested for arson-caused fires in the state.

Thousands of human-caused fires fall into the unofficial category of people being knuckleheads: Folks doing something they think is safe or, absent any thinking, something they come to regret.

A few examples:

• A smoke bomb at a gender-reveal party sparked the deadly 2020 El Dorado Fire in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, which killed a firefighter and cost $42 million to suppress.
• A person using a lawnmower in Mariposa County caused the French Fire on July 4.
• Starting a fire to signal for help, a hunter inadvertently started the 2003 Cedar Fire near San Diego, which burned 280,278 acres, destroyed 2,820 buildings and killed 15 people.
• Faulty wiring on a hot tub in 2015 ignited a fire that burned for longer than a month in Lake County.
• Weapons fired in backcountry started the 2017 Detwiler Fire, destroying 134 structures and threatening Yosemite National Park. The same cause in the same area sparked the Telegraph Fire nine years earlier.
• A homeowner attempting to install a shade cloth on his property used a hammer to drive a metal stake in the ground. The sparks set off the Ranch Fire, which killed a firefighter and burned more than 410,000 acres in Colusa, Glenn, Lake and Mendocino counties in 2018.

Throw into the mix: escaped Mylar balloons sparking utility lines, unattended campfires, weedwackers, cigarette butts tossed out of car windows, trains, backyard fireworks. It’s a wonder that the state doesn’t burn down every year.

Dispatching crews to human-caused fires takes resources away from the fires that nature creates, said Adrienne Freeman, a spokesperson with the U.S. Forest Service.

“The answer is to use common sense,” she said. “It’s important not to place blame, but if you have a flat tire and you are 500 feet from the gas station, you may want to push (the car instead.) Think about it in the bigger picture.”

Freeman said a particular numbskull decision she’s seen is, evidently, common: backcountry campers setting fire to used toilet paper so they don’t have to pack it out.

Vehicles, lawn equipment are leading causes of wildfires

“The unsung reason is parking on dry grass. It’s common,” she said. “People pull up to a river access and see all these cars parked on the same strip you are parked on. What do you do? You park there.”

California firefighters respond to countless brush fires every summer that were started from a hot tailpipe making contact with high and dry grasses next to a road. The flammability of grasses is so well known that even those in the fire service are on guard not to spark fires when they use or move equipment.

“You can actually start fires while fighting fires,” Freeman said, noting that heavy-duty fire engines and other fire vehicles can kick up rocks and cause sparks. “You are moving your dozers to respond to a fire, you have to be very careful.”

“The unsung reason is parking on dry grass. It’s common.”
— Adrienne Freeman, the U.S. Forest Service

Dave Winnacker, fire chief of the Moraga-Orinda Fire District east of Berkeley, said human-caused fires commonly involve using equipment outdoors unsafely and vehicle accidents. His department operates a rigorous fire awareness program but sometimes education and warnings are not enough. In June, the fire district instituted a near-total outdoor fire ban.

Many California counties suggest mowing grass early in the day or late afternoon, but it’s not mandatory.

“We rely on our education and spreading the word. At the end of the day, some people are going to get it and some are not,” said Andy VanSciver, public information officer for the Ventura County Fire Department.

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Mary Beth Amen (simply “Beth” to most all) passed away peacefully at the age of seventy at her Freshwater home on May 3. She was a sixty-two-year resident of Humboldt County, with a lifetime of family and friends to show for it.

Beth was born in Newport News, Virginia while her father, William Thomas Amen, was deployed with the United States Navy. She often insisted that her full name was Mary Beth Virginia Randolph Amen, as Randolph was the name of her dad’s aircraft carrier at the time of her birth. Both Beth’s father, Tom Amen, and her mother, Gladys Rose Grove, attended Humboldt State University-perhaps portending Beth’s own career in higher education.

Following graduation from Eureka High School in 1971, Beth attended and graduated from HSU in 1978, subsequently working at the McKinleyville branch of College of the Redwoods. She then returned to HSU, where she served as Political Science Department secretary for fifteen years. Managing the Office of the Vice-President of Student Affairs was her final role at Humboldt State.

Having lost her dad at a young age to an airplane crash (on approach to the McKinleyville airport), Beth’s stepdad, Chuck Bower (“Western Auto-on the plaza in Arcata”), was a rock for both Beth and her mother for decades. And Beth in turn was a rock for both Chuck and “Lala” before they passed away.

Beyond the humans in her life, Beth’s deepest loves were canines and horses.

There was always at least one boxer in Beth’s home, starting with “Tex” when the family lived in Tom’s last duty station in Beeville, Texas. The dogs were joined by horses as soon as she had sufficient pastureland in Freshwater, and Beth competed in several endurance-riding contests over the years. Anyone wishing to memorialize Beth’s passing is encouraged to donate to Redwood Pals Rescue (https://redwoodpalsrescue.org).

Beth was predeceased by her first husband, Elsworth Pence, and then by a second, John Travis. She is survived by her brother, Tim Amen (Seattle), her niece Meegan Amen (Seattle), cousin Serena (Seattle); her sister, Lori Amen (Asti, Italy), niece Erika (Milan, Italy); her cousin, Chris Freeman (Bayside); stepbrothers Wayne Bower (Eureka), niece Stacy Juchtzer (Eureka) with husband Rick and their children Logan & Halie, and Charles Bower (Redding); and her stepson, Chris Pence (Arcata).

Velma Dorothy Tirsbeck (Nunes) passed on peacefully at the Ida Emerson House on June 15, 2024, after a long illness.

Velma was able to remain in her home until the last 10 days of her life thanks to her longtime caregiver and friend, J.T. Compton. Velma enjoyed daily drives throughout Humboldt County and weekly visits with her children. She had a witty sense of humor and can be described as tenacious and stubborn.

Velma was born to Joaquin and Maria Nunes in Rohnerville and raised on a dairy ranch in Ferndale. Velma was preceded in death by loving husband, Bruce Tirsbeck, and her parents and siblings: Daniel Nunes, Manuel Nunes, Gerald Ewing and younger sister La Vina Collenberg.

Velma is survived by her son, Alan Tirsbeck; her daughter, Cynthia Tirsbeck; her granddaughter, Tia Tirsbeck-Hauan (Bryan); and grandchildren Hunter Haberman and Mya Hauan and numerous nieces and nephews.

The family would like to thank everyone who contributed to Velma’s care, especially Humboldt Hospice for their dependable care the last few months.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Velma Tirsbeck’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.

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The office of Humboldt County District Attorney Stacey Eads has decided not to prosecute a majority of the protesters who were arrested during or after a multi-agency law enforcement raid at Cal Poly Humboldt on May April 30. 

In emailed responses to questions from the Outpost, Eads said her office received a group of referrals from Cal Poly Humboldt’s University Police Department (UPD) requesting charges against 39 people, but after evaluating the cases her office rejected 27 of the 39 referrals “based upon insufficient evidence to prove a crime beyond a reasonable doubt and/or interests of justice grounds.”

The other 12 cases remain pending, but they’ve been referred back to the UPD for “further investigation, information and/or documentation,” Eads said. These charging decisions were first reported by the North Coast Journal earlier today.

At least 35 activists were arrested on campus after more than a week of demonstrating in support of Palestine. Protest activities included the occupation and barricading of Siemens Hall and the application of graffiti across campus, including inside the office of then-University President Tom Jackson.

While the demonstrators defended their actions on free speech grounds, university administrators accused the activists of “lawless behavior,” including theft, vandalism and trespassing, and they issued a hard closure of campus after a failed initial attempt to break up the demonstration.

Last week, an independent review of law enforcement’s April 30 response to the campus demonstrations found that the UPD, in particular, showed a lack of effective planning and command. 

The protest at Cal Poly Humboldt was among a nationwide wave of campus demonstrations in support of Palestine.

In the wake of the local police raid, Cal Poly Humboldt’s faculty union condemned the arrests as a “dangerous escalation” in response to “a peaceful campus demonstration.”

But others, including California Sen. Mike McGuire and Assemblyman Jim Wood, said the arrests were justified in light of the vandalism, destruction of school property and antisemitic hate speech.

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PREVIOUSLY: 

• Law Enforcement Showed a ‘Lack of Effective Planning and Command’ Responding to Cal Poly Humboldt Protests, Independent Review Finds
• Multiple Law Enforcement Agencies on CPH Campus This Morning; Solidarity March Planned; Commencement Ceremony Status Uncertain
• In New Statement, Cal Poly Humboldt Says It Supports Free Speech But Decries ‘Lawless Behavior,’ Disruption of Education and Damages Estimated in the Millions
• Cal Poly Humboldt Issues Hard Closure of Campus; Law Enforcement Converges
• DAY FIVE: Protesters Open Cal Poly Humboldt’s Siemens Hall After Day of Tension Waiting For a Raid That Has Yet to Come
• DAY FOUR: Occupy Cal Poly Humboldt Protester Details Group’s Demands, Motivations and Views on President Tom Jackson, Law Enforcement and Their Campus Impact
• Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty Pass Vote of No Confidence in President Tom Jackson Amid Ongoing Student Protest
• DAY THREE: (PHOTOS) Student Protesters List Demands, Expand Graffiti Messaging and Voice Camaraderie on Third Day of Cal Poly Humboldt Campus Occupation
• Cal Poly Humboldt Says Campus Will be Closed Through at Least the Weekend Due to Ongoing Pro-Palestine Protests
• DAY TWO: The Morning After Cops Clash With Student Protesters, CPH Campus is Closed, Occupied Building Barricaded
• Legendary Rebellious Rapper Chuck D’s Cal Poly Humboldt Event Canceled By In-Progress, On-Campus Rebellion
• DAY ONE: Major Pro-Palestine Protests at Cal Poly Humboldt Provoke Massive Police Response; Protesters Occupy Siemens Hall; Reports of Violent Force Between Activists and Law Enforcement

Last week, Meredith Matthews, mayor of Arcata’s historic all-women City Council, declared she will support Kamala Harris as a delegate during the August 19-22 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

With a groundswell of public excitement and a majority of the party’s delegates at her back, the first female Vice President is well on her way to becoming the second woman chosen to lead a major party ticket. 

And, less than 100 days out from the November election, a New York Times/Siena College poll conducted last week showed Harris neck-and-neck with Trump (about 4 points closer than Biden was following the debate performance that shall not be named).

“She seems to have pumped new life and new interest into the race,” Matthews told the Outpost in a phone interview. “I like seeing the next generation stepping up and the excitement it’s generating.” 

“She’s a woman. I mean, come on,” she concluded on her support for Harris.

It’s easy to cast national elections as top-down political theater, but Matthews’ delegate status serves as a reminder of the reciprocity between levels of government. Many of the roughly 4,700 delegates who will cast votes at the convention in August are local officials: mayors, councilmembers, commissioners and legislators on city, county and state levels. 

And the outcome of the delegates’ choice – the subsequent success or failure of the party’s candidate – will most definitely return to impact those levels through the policies the next president puts in place.

To make Matthews’ first time attending the Democratic National Convention all the more interesting, delegates have not come into play like they will this election season in a long time.

Rather than giving a ceremonial thumbs up to a candidate pre-checked through state primary elections, as has been the way since the party moved away from an open convention system in the wake of the chaotic 1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention and subsequent Republican victory, Joe Biden’s decision to step aside forced delegates this year to support a candidate who was not on any state’s primary ballot.

(State processes vary – some hold caucuses instead of primaries – but in most cases, the winner of the state primary automatically takes the state’s delegates.)

Matthews was not surprised by the president’s withdrawal. 

“Biden seems to be a president that makes data-informed decisions,” she said, noting the downward trend in his polling over the last few weeks. “He definitely put the good of the nation ahead of personal gain.”

A lifelong Democrat who cast her first vote for Bill Clinton in 1992, Matthews also spoke to what she sees as the triumphs of Biden’s term, including his efforts to decrease student loan debt (his administration has canceled more than $144 billion worth), his victory with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (which appropriated $1.2 trillion for transportation and infrastructure spending) and the administration’s measures to reduce health care costs.

“He led the nation at a time of tremendous uncertainty: through a pandemic, [a] time of huge polarization [and] politically and socially shifting powers worldwide,” Matthews said. “He is a 50-plus year public servant that has dedicated his life to this country, and I have nothing but respect and admiration for that.”

Matthews said that she was called to public service because of how lucky she feels to live where she does. A camping trip in the area 30 years ago sparked in her a desire to make Humboldt home, and in 2016 she made it happen. She moved to Arcata. And shortly thereafter, she got involved – joining the Economic Development Committee and volunteering with Arcata Main Street before her appointment to City Council in 2021.

“The most important things I’ve learned are to listen and show up,” Matthews said of her time in local government so far, adding that while the pace of work can seem “glacial” and the job can feel thankless at times, the results she has seen over her three years of service have been “pretty amazing.”

Matthews applied to be a delegate in January and found out in May that she was one of 496 selected to represent California at the 2024 convention.

“I just felt in my bones that this was probably going to be one of the most important elections in my lifetime, with the most at stake,” she said, recalling her decision to apply. “I just really wanted to be a part of it.”

Matthews made clear that her role as a delegate is separate from her role on Council. Stressing that city government is nonpartisan, she said she takes her mandate to serve the whole community, regardless of political persuasion, “super seriously.” 

But she also acknowledged the ways in which policy decisions made on national levels affect life in Arcata, pointing to an audit of Arcata’s spending for the fiscal year ending in 2023 which showed nearly $13.4 million in federal grants expenditures spanning diverse sectors like housing, transportation, environmental clean-up and emergency services. 

“So yeah, they [the feds] fund a lot,” Matthews said, adding that federal grants are especially critical for small cities with big dreams – “aspirational projects,” in her words – like Arcata.

“Do I think that under different leadership, we would’ve gotten quite so many grants for so many things?” she asked, answering: “No, I do not. And I’m super grateful to the Biden Administration for that.”

While the Harris campaign has played up the vice president’s work with the Biden Administration, Trump’s presidency was marked by funding cuts and hold ups that impacted important pots of money for cities. And blueprints for a potential Trump term number two, including the 2024 Republican Party Platform and the Project 2025 policy document led by allies of the former president, foreshadow more cuts. 

While the former puts reining in “wasteful Government spending” front and center, Project 2025 goes much, much further than the vague bullet points of the GOP Platform. Using a clearly stated “carrot and stick” approach to federal funding, the 922-page manifesto outlines how local governments nationwide could be bent to conservative interests.

For example, Project 2025 proposes cutting federal aid to declared “Sanctuary” localities (Arcata is a Sanctuary City and Humboldt is a Sanctuary County) and requiring those applying for federal funding to share information on residents with federal law and immigration enforcement agencies. 

So, while Matthews’ trip to Chicago next month represents the grassroots aspect of party politics, what comes after November (and really, after January 20) will surely remind communities nationwide that localities’ successes or failures – the resources and abilities they have to implement their own visions – are heavily impacted by what’s happening above.

Speaking to the gravity in what she’s about to participate in, Matthews called serving as a delegate a “once in a lifetime opportunity.”

“It’s a moment in history, and I’m always going to be able to look back and say that I was there,” she said. “I think my kids are going to be proud because I was there, and I know that my parents are really proud that I’ll be there.”

Mayor Matthews will be updating her Facebook and Instagram accounts with convention content for those interested in following along with her journey to Chicago. 

Everyone should check out Friend o’ the LoCO Ashley Harrell’s story in SFGate this morning. 

What’s it about? Pretty much as the headline above suggests, it turns out that there are social media influencer dipshits who regularly come to the North Coast to illegally climb tall trees in Redwood National Park — specifically Hyperion, the tallest tree in the world — in order to post dumb videos of themselves doing so.

Harrell patiently attempts to speak to said dipshits to figure out why the fuck they do what they do; and also to park rangers about the fact that it is absolutely illegal; and also to experienced botanists about how these activities trash the trees and the delicate canopy ecosystem.

Below: “Chasing Adventure: The Arborist,” a 60-minute movie exactly as stupid as its title, featuring one crew of absolute bell-ends doing their idiotic thing.

A California project that provides legal advocacy for unaccompanied child immigrants will end in September unless backers can convince lawmakers to renew funding by next month.

The Children’s Holistic Immigration Representation Project was funded through a one-time allocation in 2022 and not renewed when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed California’s $298 billion budget last month.

There were 64,173 unaccompanied children released in California between January 2015 and May 2023, according to a CalMatters analysis of federal data obtained by the New York Times.

The project’s clients include A.L., who lives with his aunt in Northern California. When A.L. was in the first or second grade, a motorcycle chase ended in the courtyard of his elementary school. He said that he and other young children from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, watched in horror as a group of men surrounded another man, kicked him, beat him, and dragged him all around the school. He never knew why.

“I froze,” said A.L., a 17-year-old who came to the United States as an unaccompanied minor when he was 14. “That’s an example of the violence we live with in my country.”

Honduras has a homicide rate five times higher than the United States, according to the Migration and Asylum Lab, which provides expertise about conditions in Latin American countries for use in asylum applications. San Pedro Sula, the capital where A.L. lived, is called “the world’s murder capital.”

CalMatters is only identifying A.L. by his initials because he fears for his safety and his family’s well-being back in Honduras. We interviewed him with the permission of his sponsor, his aunt, and other advocates.

Without CHIRP, the free legal representation and the social services program A.L. says saved his life, “I’d probably be back in my country,” he told CalMatters.

Rather than providing kids just with legal services, social workers under the project also help children find mental health services, enroll in school, get vaccines, and get work authorization, an approach known as “trauma-informed intervention.”

Unaccompanied children are a particularly vulnerable group. They can be exploited in full-time, dangerous jobs that violate labor laws, advocates and government officials say.

CHIRP was funded as a pilot program with $15.3 million in fiscal year 2022 — enough to carry it through this coming September.

Newsom has not met with anyone to discuss the termination of the project, advocates say. His budget sought to close a huge deficit with $16 billion in cuts and delays.

Newsom’s office declined an interview request about overall cuts to immigration services, but a spokesperson said the governor’s budget maintains nearly $60 million for immigration-related legal services provided to Californians, including students, workers, and unaccompanied minors.

“We don’t find any joy in this – but we’ve got to do it, we have to be responsible. We have to be accountable. We have to balance the budget,” Newsom said previously about general budget reductions amid the funding shortfall.

Time is running out, but not all hope is lost.

“The legislature remains active on CHIRP and [is] exploring possible solutions to ensure its survival,” said Hamid Yazdan Panah, advocacy director of Immigrant Defense Advocates. “We are cautiously optimistic that there will be a path to continue the program, especially given there is no clear alternative for the vulnerable population that it serves.”

The legal advocacy project is in jeopardy just as new federal shifts in immigration policy might prompt an increase in the number of unaccompanied minors being released into California.

In June, President Joe Biden issued an executive order that limits asylum processing after encounters with migrants between ports of entry reach 2,500 per day. The new policy exempts unaccompanied minors, in the same way that such children were eventually exempted from a 2020 order that turned away migrants in the name of stopping the spread of COVID-19. Advocates worry the exemption may prompt parents from dangerous countries to make the hard decision to send their children across the border alone.

“We don’t think that will happen,” said Tom Perez, a senior advisor to the president and director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, during a press call in June.

But several years ago, that is the decision A.L.’s parents had to make.

By the time A.L. was 14, gangs in Honduras waited outside his school nearly every single day, threatening him, harassing him, and trying to recruit him, he said. He and his family decided he should flee for the United States.

During the 23-day journey by himself on foot and bus to the U.S.-Mexico border, A.L. said he was robbed by Mexican police. He crossed near the Rio Grande, and U.S. border authorities sent him to live in a center for unaccompanied children in San Antonio, Texas. There, he said, he often didn’t have enough food to eat, and he was not allowed to make phone calls to his family or to find an attorney.

“A.L.,” (far left) an unaccompanied minor from Honduras visits the state Capitol in March of 2024 to advocate for funding for the CHIRP program, which helps protect migrant children alone in the U.S. from deportation. Photo Courtesy of Community Justice Alliance

When he was finally released to his family in California at age 15, he was given a long list of attorneys’ names that he was expected to call on his own to secure legal representation for his pending immigration case.

“I tried to call and call and call many lawyers. Some of them never answered me, and others said they were already too busy. In the end, no one was able to help me. From that long list of attorneys, none of them could help me,” A.L. told CalMatters. Soon, he received a deportation order.

Kristina McKibben, the executive director of Community Justice Alliance, the nonprofit that administers the legal advocacy project, said unaccompanied minors are often expected to navigate the complicated immigration court system without any representation.

“And so, they’re expected to just figure it out,” said McKibben, who said clients as young as third graders can be left to navigate the court system on their own. “I think we all know that it’s ridiculous.”

In 2023, only 56% of unaccompanied migrant children defending their cases in U.S immigration court had attorneys representing them, according to data from the Justice Department. The immigration court system does not guarantee a right to counsel, even for parentless children.

The stakes are high. Between October 2017 and March 31, 2021, 90% of minors without legal representation were ordered removed from the country by federal authorities, according to data provided in a 2021 Congressional Research Service report.

A.L.’s pending deportation order weighed so heavily on him that he couldn’t concentrate or make friends at school.

“I was so lonely because all my classmates were talking about what their daily life was like, or you know, ‘I remember when this happened to me,’ and they were sharing their experiences. And I was always just quiet, listening, … because I was afraid to share my story,” said A.L.

Assemblymember Blanca Rubio, a Democrat from Baldwin Park, said most unaccompanied children who arrive in California are forced to flee their home countries because of violence and abandonment. She is advocating to keep the program because she says it goes beyond just legal representation for minors.

“The program is centered on an understanding that these children have faced trauma, both before coming to the U.S. and within the immigration system itself,” she said in a written statement. “These unaccompanied children are a symbol of resilience and a testament that a better life and future are possible. California should stand with them and invest in a shared future.”

One of A.L.’s teachers frantically started making calls and finally connected him to the advocacy project, which helped him get his deportation order lifted. He’s now living in a legal limbo called deferred action, which means the Department of Homeland Security has agreed not to deport him, but he does not have any official or permanent legal status. One of his advocates said it will be an approximate five-year wait before he can apply to become a lawful permanent resident, or to receive what is commonly referred to as a green card.

A.L. said he’s not afraid to share his story anymore. He recently traveled to the state Capitol to try to convince lawmakers to maintain funding for other children like him.

“Now I feel more confident because I know that I have support,” he said.

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Data journalist Erica Yee contributed to this report.

This story was reported through a fellowship on U.S. immigration policy in El Paso organized by Poynter with funding from the Catena Foundation.

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.