In January – just one day after Trump was certified as the next president by Congress, a massive Border Patrol raid took place in Bakersfiled, California. Seventy-eight migrant workers were detained under the guise of a crack down on criminals, but when the dust settled the data revealed that only one out of the 78 people detained had any criminal record. Joining us to discuss are Bree Bernwanger, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Northern California and lead attorney on United Farm Workers v. Noem, a lawsuit which claims the Border Patrol violated the plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures, as well as their Fifth Amendment right to due process, and other federal laws, during the raids described above. We’re also joined by Sergio Olmos, an investigative reporter for CalMatters, whose latest reporting, along with our next guest, focuses on the same Border Patrol actions in Bakersfield that are being challenged in the lawsuit that I previously mentioned. And we’re additionally joined by Wendy Fry, a multimedia investigative journalist who reports on poverty and inequality for the California Divide team at CalMatters, who has been collaborating with Sergio in covering the Border Patrol Bakersfield raids.
Check out the CalMatters coverage of this story here: https://calmatters.org/justice/2025/04/border-patrol-to-retrain-hundreds-of-california-agents-on-how-to-comply-with-the-constitution/
Learn more about the lawsuit UFW v. Noem: https://www.aclunc.org/our-work/legal-docket/united-farm-workers-v-noem
Then, we turn our attention to the rape scandal and subsequent trials related to the closure of the federal women’s prison FCI Dublin. A number of guards at the prison have been charged and convicted for involvement in sexual assault against prisoners, and the last and final of those trials went to jury last week. The case has resulted in a surprising hung jury. Joining us to discuss is Lisa Fernandez, a veteran journalist working at KTVU Channel 2 in the Bay Area, who has been covering the sexual abuse scandal at the former women’s Federal Correctional Facility in Dublin, California. Trigger warning – this conversation includes references to the sexual assault of prisoners.
Our Resistance in Residence Artist this week is Northern Irish actor Shaun Blaney.
Shaun portrays Gerry Conlan in the production of In The Name Of The Sun, which will see its US premier at the San Francisco International Arts Festival in early May. More info: https://www.sfiaf.org/2025_green_shoot_productions
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