SAN MARCOS — Immigration is arguably the most pressing national discussion and for one San Marcos woman it is personal.
Monique Gomez, 22, helped organize a peaceful protest on Friday in San Marcos at the intersection of San Marcos Boulevard and Twin Oaks Valley Road. She said she did for her father, who worked in construction and was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in November and is currently detained at a federal facility in San Diego.
Hundreds of supporters came out and posted up on each corner waving Mexican and U.S. flags, chanting and denouncing President Donald Trump’s policies on immigration and deportations.
The soft-spoken Gomez said her father was the breadwinner for the family, which includes her grandmother and her siblings. She said the arrest hit the family hard as they now struggle to survive and are unsure what will happen to Gomez’s father. She said the hearing date has changed several times and the family doesn’t know when a hearing will be conducted.
“Since this has been an ongoing issue for many years, I want to be a voice for the people and raise awareness,” Gomez, a San Marcos native, said fighting back tears. “He was the main income for the household and since he’s been going, it’s been very challenging. It’s been really rocky financial-wise and my grandmother is at an age where so can no longer work.”
She said it’s challenging to help her dad, and while her father was arrested during former President Joe Biden’s term, it’s become more difficult with Trump in office and his aggressive policies.
So, she, along with Steve Nunez, 35, of Escondido planned Friday’s protest. The two met at another protest last week. There were protests in Vista, Escondido and Oceanside with thousands of people attending.
Nunez, who was raised in Iowa, said he’s seen the impacts of racism and how immigrants are treated as a kid. He slammed Trump’s policies as fascist and ripped the policy of tearing families apart and leveraging Guantanamo Bay as a destination for illegal immigrants.
“This was a grassroots protest,” Nunez said. “All of us, together, have been to at least four or five protests. I am first generation, my parents are from Mexico and I’m a military (combat) veteran. For me, I wasn’t sure about my identity and was conflicted for a long time.”
He said he’s representing his parents, who suffered subtle and open injustices, struggled to find work and more. Nunez said he’s a proud son of his parents and immigrants are productive members of society.
Even though Guantanamo Bay is reserved for “high threat” illegal immigrants, Nunez said the symbolism is disgraceful as some of the world’s worst criminals, such as terrorists, are held at the maximum-security facility in Cuba.
Regardless, Nunez said the issue has become so heated it’s difficult to have calm discussion about deportations. He said for those in the country illegally, but working, paying taxes and raising families, amnesty or a pathway to citizenship should be an option, or at least a conversation.
“I hate this idea that people who cross the border, are criminals and should be demonized and targeted in a certain way,” he explained. “I grew in a United States that told us we’re all equal and that’s what the Constitution says.”
Supporters of deporting illegal immigrants say those in the country illegally are alienating legal immigrants, can suppress wages, opens the border to a criminal element and others. There also have been some counter-protestors this week criticizing those fighting back citing the waving of Mexican flags, not assimilating to the U.S. and jumping on cars, along with other issues.
A Gallup poll shows 81% of Americans support allowing immigrant children, and 70% of illegal immigrants, a chance to become U.S. citizens if they meet certain requirements. The same poll shows 47% support deporting all illegal immigrants. However, 55% support a decrease in immigration, which is a 13% increase since 2023.
Immigration is the top priority for American citizens, surpassing foreign policy, the economy, inflation and others, according to the Associated Press. An AP poll in January found 83% of people supporting deporting criminals, while a New York Times poll found 63% of Americans support deporting undocumented migrants who entered the country in the past four years.
Federal funding
On Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered a ban on all Department of Justice funding distributed to sanctuary cities and counties. The order also will “identify and evaluate” any non-governmental organization (NGO) “that support or provide services to removable or illegal aliens.”
Also, Trump put a freeze on all federal grants and loans until they can be reviewed. However, Rep. Scott Peters (D-San Diego) said in his newsletter a federal court has already halted Trump’s attempt to freeze funding federal grants, loans and other assistance.
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, at least $5.8 billion in grants have been distributed to San Diego entities over the past five years with the University of California San Diego at $1 billion followed by the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System ($505 million), San Diego County Regional Airport Authority ($359 million) and the North County Transit District ($248 million).
The county received $1.3 billion from the federal government for its 2024-25 budget, according to Miles Himmel, the communications director for Supervisor Jim Desmond.
After Trump’s first election in 2016, he imposed a similar policy regarding immigration, which was overturned by the Supreme Court. Also, there is no legal definition of a “sanctuary city” and a Lawson-Remer spokesman said Bondi’s orders are performative to sow confusion, discord and fear.
He said it’s nothing more than a public relations move and expects the policy to be challenged, and overturned, in court. As for the funding, the spokesman said the funding “ban” doesn’t impact healthcare, roads or other elements not related to immigration.
As for NGO’s, the order will pause funding for 60 days and identify NGOs receiving funding and describe the support and services provided. The Department of Justice will report if the funds were provided in accordance with the law, resulted in waste or fraud and “promoted or facilitated” violations of immigration laws.
San Diego County and the city of San Diego, meanwhile, each passed resolutions designating those jurisdictions as a “sanctuary” with the county approving a resolution in December, strengthening its position and going further than state law.
However, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said it would not comply with the supervisors’ resolution and will follow state law. The resolution passed 3-1 with Desmond, who represents District 5, voting no and Supervisor Joel Anderson was absent.
The county’s policy was to prevent the sheriff’s office, or any other county department, from coordinating with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or other federal agencies regarding immigration.
“San Diego County is focused on prioritizing the safety and well-being of our entire community,” Acting Chair Terra Lawson-Remer said in a statement. “We will not be diverting limited county resources to mass deportations of the hundreds of thousands of local residents who work and go to school, pay taxes, and serve as essential members of our community — as firefighters and first responders, teachers and engineers, childcare providers, nurses, and farmworkers. Instead, our focus remains on public safety: deporting dangerous felons, not farmworkers or families. We will continue cooperating with federal authorities when legally required but we will not undermine trust in local government by targeting our neighbors indiscriminately.”
The policy also prevents law enforcement from notifying ICE of release dates of immigrants and allowing federal law enforcement to use county facilities for investigative interviews or other purposes.
More than 155,000 immigrants were released to the streets in San Diego County over the past 14-16 months, while more than 250,000 have crossed the California border, according to Border Patrol.
Desmond warned the board majority their actions could result in a loss of federal funding with the incoming Trump Administration.
“Sanctuary jurisdictions should not receive access to federal grants administered by the Department of Justice,” Bondi’s order reads. “The department will exercise its own authority to impose any conditions of funding that do not violate applicable constitutional or statutory limitations. Federal law provides that state and local jurisdictions ‘may not prohibit, or in any way restrict, any government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, (federal immigration officers) information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual.’”
Trump, though, made immigration one of his primary policies during his campaign, a strategy he used in the 2016 campaign as well.
National polling shows a majority of Americans support deportation efforts for those in the country illegally. An Axios/Ipsos poll showed Republican support at 93%, 67% for independents and 43% of Democrats. A Syracuse/Ipsos poll shows similar numbers, but there is a massive drop across all parties for deporting those who came illegally as children or if it involves breaking up families.
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