Good morning. It’s Tuesday, July 8.
- Border Patrol chief vows to make L.A. raids “normal.”
- California defies order on transgender athletes.
- And the most beautiful vineyards in Wine Country.
Deportation crackdown
1.
More than 100 armed federal agents and soldiers in fatigues, masks, and helmets descended on MacArthur Park in Los Angeles Monday morning, sowing fear in one of the city’s most immigrant-heavy neighborhoods. The operation included 17 Humvees, four tactical vehicles, and a federal helicopter circling overhead, officials said. On a soccer field where children had been playing moments earlier, officers on horseback rode across the pitch in formation. After about an hour, the force abruptly departed, without reporting any arrests.
Mayor Karen Bass was irate, calling it “an egregious show of force.” Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol chief who has been leading enforcement efforts in L.A., alluded to the billions of dollars Congress just approved for immigration enforcement. “Better get used to us now, cause this is going to be normal very soon,” he told Fox News. “We will go anywhere, anytime we want in Los Angeles.” L.A. Times | A.P.
- California on Monday joined a lawsuit challenging “suspicionless” stops by ICE agents in Los Angeles. The raids, the state argued, have “turned once bustling neighborhoods into ghost towns.” L.A. Times
2.
Photos from the MacArthur Park operation:
3.
Stephen Miller, the Santa Monica native and architect of President Trump’s deportation push, has emerged as the most powerful man in the West Wing, wrote Jason Zengerle in an opinion essay. Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, seems to defer to him. So does Attorney General Pam Bondi, making Miller, according to the conservative legal scholar Edward Whelan, “the de facto attorney general.” ICE, in effect, serves as Miller’s own private army. And in a White House where the chief of staff, Susie Wiles, is not terribly interested in policy, Miller is typically the final word. New York Times
4.
The filmmaker Andrés Lira, a native of the San Joaquin Valley, began chronicling California farmworkers in 2020 for a project that aimed to tell the stories of the hidden laborers behind our food. His short documentary, which also drew out the everyday beauty of California’s farmland, collected several honors on the film festival circuit. But Lira didn’t anticipate the poignancy it would have in 2025, as many of the workers find themselves targeted for removal. “Primero, Sueño,” or “First, I Dream,” was recently made available to watch on Vimeo.
Statewide
5.
In late June, the U.S. Department of Education ordered California to bar transgender girls from competing in girls’ sports under threat of an unspecified “enforcement action.” On Monday, California gave its reply: no. In a two-sentence statement, state education officials formally rejected a government finding that California violated the rights of female students and said it would not agree to a “proposed resolution agreement.” Linda McMahon, the education secretary, told Gov. Gavin Newsom he’d be hearing from the Justice Department. L.A. Times | Reuters
6.
The Trump administration cut funding to San Jose State back in March over its transgender athlete policies, but never publicized the move because of doubts over whether it would make a media splash. At the time, President Trump was demanding “more action against universities,” according to newly disclosed internal emails. Staffers scrambled to find federal awards to San Jose State to cut, but they only amounted to six figures. “The likelihood of press only for SJSU is low,” conceded Josh Gruenbaum, a Trump appointee. The punishment remained a secret. NOTUS/San Jose Spotlight
7.
Desperate to win back working-class voters, Democrats are retreating on climate change, Politico wrote. Nowhere is the trend more pronounced than in California:
“In the past two weeks alone, California Democrats have retrenched on environmental reviews for construction projects, a cap on oil industry profits and clean fuel mandates.“
8.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is taking a tour of South Carolina on Tuesday and Wednesday, with plans to meet rural voters in the battleground state. Newsom said he hoped to highlight the need for relief in areas “that have too often been overlooked by Republicans in power.” Analysts said it was another sign that the ambitious Democrat is angling to shed his liberal image ahead of a presidential bid. Asked on Monday if he still has “sub-zero interest” in the White House, as he asserted in 2022, Newsom said, “Oh God, I mean, Jesus,” without answering. KCRA | A.P.
9.
At Donum Estate winery in Sonoma, visitors are drawn as much by the audacious sculptures as they are by the wine. Some 60 works by major artists such as Ai Weiwei, Doug Aitken, and Jaume Plensa are scattered among the hills, eucalyptus trees, and vines of the 200-acre property. The most recent addition came in June: a 25-foot-tall bronze sculpture titled “Oracle” by Sanford Biggers, pictured above. Architectural Digest included Donum Estate in a ranking of the nine most beautiful wineries in Napa and Sonoma counties.
- Take an online tour of the Donum art collection.
Southern California
10.
The oldest restaurant and saloon in Los Angeles, Cole’s French Dip, said it would close, citing the challenging business climate that has led hundreds of L.A. restaurants to shutter in the years since the pandemic. The “litany of reasons” included the Hollywood strikes, rising labor costs, and high rents, said owner Cedd Moses. Founded in 1908, Cole’s French Dip is purported to have invented the French dip sandwich. Eater Los Angeles | LAist
11.
On July 4, 1905, the tobacco millionaire Abbot Kinney founded Venice of America in Southern California, modeling it on Italy’s floating city. Over the years, Venice became a world-class city in its own right, a crucible for the development of board sports, bodybuilding, bohemianism, and tech. For the city’s 120th anniversary, CNN published photos by the local documentary photographer Karen Ballard, who has been capturing the spirit of her hometown for the past 15 years.
- See more of Ballard’s Venice photography.
12.
The desert, the novelist John Fante once wrote, is “a patient white animal, waiting for men to die, for civilizations to flicker.” On the edge of the Mojave Desert, Newberry Springs is a case study in what happens when one underestimates the “white animal.” Nestled along Route 66, the town once boomed with five gas stations, four motels, and even a public swimming pool. But overpumping and careless governance doomed one of the town’s neighborhoods, which was ultimately surrendered to the shifting dunes. Today, the buried homes of Newberry Springs are a bucket-list destination for desert explorers. A pair of travel vloggers paid a recent visit. YouTube
Correction:
A summary in Monday’s newsletter said that a woman detained by immigration agents in Southern California had “voted” for Donald Trump. Articles reported only that she supported Trump.
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