California Today: Members of the Migrant Caravan Await Their Fate Near San Diego

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/01/us/california-today-migrant-caravan.html

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Scores of migrants from Central America have set up an encampment on the border between Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego, waiting to apply for asylum in the United States after a journey that has drawn international attention. American border authorities have thus far declined to process the asylum seekers, a stalemate with no clear end.

For several years, migrants from Central America have made their way north en masse in so-called caravans as a way to protect themselves from criminals as they flee violence in their home countries. This year, more than 1,200 migrants joined the caravan, which formed in late March in southern Mexico. It has drawn intense scrutiny among conservatives and in right-wing media, and President Trump himself warned on Twitter that the caravan posed a threat to the United States’ security.

With the American authorities unwilling to let the migrants enter the country on Monday, upward of 150 migrants from the caravan who intended to seek asylum huddled with donated blankets and sandwiches, which were distributed by volunteers. Plastic tarps protected them from the intense sun, and small knapsacks held their few belongings.

The group has vowed to stay until the asylum seekers are allowed to petition for protection on American soil.

Mario Quintanillo and Cecilia Sarai Carillo, who made the trek from El Salvador, were married at the beach in Tijuana on Sunday morning in preparation for their request for asylum in the United States. Their 2-year-old daughter, Daryeline Ariana, was with them.

“I’m going with the feeling that it’s going to be worth the effort,” Mr. Quintanillo, 30, said.

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• Vice President Mike Pence arrived in the Imperial Valley for a tour of a construction site for the border barrier, just 100 miles west of the asylum seekers. [The Los Angeles Times]

• The California Supreme Court made it much more difficult for companies to classify workers as independent contractors rather than employees, dealing a blow to the gig economy model. [The New York Times]

• California is gearing up for a big fight with the Trump administration over tailpipe emissions. Here’s why the effects will be felt far beyond the Golden State. [The New York Times]

• Senator Kamala Harris and other leading Democratic prospects are drawing lessons from Senator Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign as they look ahead to 2020. [Politico]

• Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles budgeted more than $430 million for the city’s homeless, but most of it is in long-term debt. [The Los Angeles Times]

• A state program has resulted in droves of California teenagers pre-registering to vote. But will they actually head to the polls in the fall? [Orange County Register]

• A bankruptcy trustee has filed a lawsuit against Paul Manafort in Santa Ana, saying that the former Trump campaign manager falsely claimed he was a creditor in a failed real estate deal. [Reuters]

• Ashley Judd sued Harvey Weinstein in Los Angeles Superior Court, saying he harmed her career by spreading lies about her after she denied his sexual requests. [The New York Times]

• When an Asian restaurant called Yellow Fever opened its third location at a Whole Foods 365 store in Long Beach, public debate erupted over disparaging language and corporate America. [The New York Times]

• Is it possible to live in San Francisco without spending any money? A new type of bargain hunter is emerging in the city, which is full of venture-capital-backed start-ups offering free trials and discounts. [The Wall Street Journal]

• A seven-mile stretch of Highway 1 that has been closed since landslides in Big Sur last spring is expected to reopen in September. [San Francisco Chronicle]

• U.C. Berkeley students who survived the 2016 terrorist attack in Nice, France, are launching start-ups to help counter global terrorism. [Berkeley News]

• Don Nelson, the retired N.B.A. coach, spoke to us about poker, weed and the Warriors’ chances this year. [The New York Times]

• A travel company wants to take you on a road trip between San Diego and Las Vegas — via Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Joshua Tree National Park and the Grand Canyon — on a tour bus packed with luxury amenities. [The New York Times]

When Kendrick Lamar won the Pulitzer Prize for music last month, becoming the first rapper to do so, critics and journalists marveled at the genre-breaking victory.

The triumph was more than just historic for residents of South Los Angeles, where Mr. Lamar grew up — it was also profoundly moving, an acknowledgment that their stories mattered.

Young writers and artists in the area have long venerated Mr. Lamar, whose rise from poverty to becoming one of the acclaimed musical writers of his generation is a source of hope and inspiration. Kyland Turner, a young writer and poet from Watts, said Mr. Lamar’s music helped him make sense of his own life and choices at critical moments.

“There was a long time that I didn’t know how to express myself, and Kendrick was that expression for me personally. I was young and trying to make it through the city,” said Mr. Turner, 22. “His first album, that album got me through some of the toughest parts of my life, from being evicted to having friends dying.”

Mr. Turner’s dream is to make it as a songwriter and screenwriter. He’s well on his way. He has built a following through raw performances in spoken-word events around the city, drawing from his life in South L.A.’s neighborhoods. He recently did story-consulting work on a Netflix series about South L.A., “On My Block,” and once performed at the White House.

Mr. Lamar’s Pulitzer win, said Mr. Turner, has provided a rush of inspiration for Mr. Turner and others like him.

“We knew about Kendrick before the world knew about him. To see his growth over time and for him to stay true to his community, just on a personal level growing up in the city, in L.A., Watts, Compton — it made me feel like, man, I can make it,” Mr. Turner said.

California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com.

California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.