The Audible: Maybe the NBA’s craziest trade deadline ever?

• February 6, 2025

Jim Alexander: I’m not sure if today’s NBA trade deadline was the most consequential ever. We’re dealing with recency bias here – along with a number of head-spinning moves (and at least one non-move) – and to determine this definitively would require far more research than I’m willing to pursue right now.

But it has certainly been consequential, and I think ESPN analyst Bobby Marks summed it up adequately on the network’s NBA coverage this morning when he said, “The trade deadline is the new free agency.” July 1 used to be the league’s big day for player movement and speculation (and tons of social media activity). Now it’s deadline day, partially because of the new salary cap rules, and maybe because so many teams see an opening, or at least are desperately trying, to catch division leaders Oklahoma City and Cleveland.

That said, even with the number of moves made up to today’s noon cutoff, Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis still stands alone. And I’ve decided that if there were ever to be a documentary about the Lakers’ general manager, it should be called “Rob Pelinka After Dark.” Pelinka pulled the trigger on the Doncic deal late Saturday night, actually after midnight Eastern time, and not long after the Lakers had beaten the Knicks in Madison Square Garden. And he struck again late Thursday evening when he pried young 7-foot center Mark Williams from Charlotte.

I still don’t know if this makes the Lakers more capable of a championship run or less so. There is the defensive component (they’re not as good as they were before the trade). There’s also the idea that Pelinka reshaped a team that was already starting to hit its stride and has won nine of its last 11. And in trading Anthony Davis, Max Christie and Jalen Hood-Schifino in the Doncic deal and Dalton Knecht and Cam Reddish in the Williams deal, I’m wondering if they’re going to need some callups from the South Bay Lakers to fill out the bench.

Lots to unpack from this deadline, including the Clippers’ moves, Kevin Durant staying in Phoenix – the one guy who many expected to be traded wound up staying put after letting the world know he wasn’t interested in going back to the Golden State Warriors – and Pat Riley subsequently solving his Jimmy Butler problem, along with whatever on earth Danny Ainge is doing in Utah.

But, first, Mirjam, what are you seeing with this Lakers roster?

Mirjam Swanson: I love the Lakers’ roster.

Like, I’m so excited to watch them play.

As a (reformed lol) Clippers beat writer, I’ve had a real good look at Luka in the playoffs, because three times he’s faced them in the postseason, and he’s a monster. An absolute menace. No ebbs, all flow – in whatever language you’re talking mess. And the idea of pairing that dude with LeBron James, who is still cooking in – everyone say it with me – Year 22?

And they’ve added an ideal athletic center? With a roster that’s long on role players and long, height- and wingspan-wise too? That still includes Austin Reaves, and Rui Hachamura, and that absolutely has defenders (Jarred Vanderbilt, Dorian Finney Smith and Gabe Vincent are good defenders!)? A team that can shoot 3-pointers playing for a coach who wants to shoot 3s?

Luka + LeBron and a strong supporting cast? I like it. I like it a lot.

Jim: I guess the question league-wide is whether the Lakers are all in for this year or all in for life post-LeBron. When the question was posed to James on Tuesday night, by Dylan Hernández of the L.A. Times, his response was, as I wrote, “What’s wrong with that? If I had concerns, I’d have waived my no-trade clause and got up out of here.”

But my feeling was that it’s easy to say that now. Let’s see how this partnership is working a month from now.

And I noted that the question posed above is coming from the outside. Those of us familiar with Laker Exceptionalism, both inside the organization and among the fan base, know that there’s no differentiation. The Lakers always – always – are aiming for Banner No. 18, and this trade will be judged in the immediate future on how close it gets them to that goal.

Meanwhile, the Western Conference just gets tougher. OKC didn’t have to lift a finger (the Thunder’s prime acquisition is getting Chet Holmgren back), but Houston added a couple of pieces. Memphis and Denver stood pat, but the Lakers, Warriors (with Butler) and Kings (adding Zach Levine and sending De’Aaron Fox to San Antonio) rolled the dice.

And the Clippers were active, as under the radar as it seemed with the Doncic deal sucking up most of the oxygen in not only their town but the league. They made a deal with Utah for Patty Mills and backup big man Drew Eubanks, and then beat the deadline to obtain Bogdan Bogdanovic from Atlanta, along with three second-round picks, for Terance Mann and Bones Hyland.

So where does Inglewood’s (current) Team stand at this point? Did they subtly put themselves on a champion track, assuming that Kawhi Leonard stays in one piece?

Mirjam: If only they could trade for a magic potion that would keep Kawhi in one piece.

Because if he is, they’re trouble. If he’s not, there’s no way.

Good moves, though. To get Bogdanovic, the Clippers parted ways with Mann, who gave the Clippers one of the team’s greatest moments – exploding for 39 points in an epic comeback that lifted them to their first Western Conference finals, and doing it in front of the first full crowd back after COVID. He really uncorked some pent-up energy that night that’s unlike much I’ve experienced as a sports watcher. It was pretty cool. And it was hard not to be happy for him, ’cause he’s always been a good dude, hard worker, someone who was cool but not too cool to care a lot. But it felt like, after five-plus seasons, all in L.A., he and the Clippers seemed stuck, and in need of a shakeup.

Bogdanovic is having a down season, but he’s got an outwardly competitive edge to him that the Quiet Kawhi Clippers always seem to need – especially with their established energy guy T-Mann not just out of the rotation but out of Intuit entirely. They took two guys who weren’t playing and turned them into Bogdanovic and a trio of second-rounders? Seems reasonable.

And they moved Kevin Porter Jr. to the Milwaukee Bucks for MarJon Beauchamp, fellow Washingtonians getting swapped – makes me wonder whether Mr. Steve Ballmer is familiar with his game too? Either way, another good move; KPJ’s domestic violence case made him hard for many Clippers fans to root for, and his questionable decision-making on the court made him hard to watch (one Clippers fan, podcaster Charles Mockler, put it like this: “Thank god we don’t have to watch dribble-spin move-pull up midrange-clang anymore.”)

You asked what does moving any of these pieces mean, big picture, playoff-wise?

Nothing at all if Kawhi isn’t in one piece.

Jim: A couple of other interesting aspects to this deadline: Two former Lakers from the lottery picks era changed teams Thursday. Kyle Kuzma went from the downtrodden Washington Wizards to Milwaukee, joining Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard on a team that entered today fifth in the East and might have improved itself considerably.

And Brandon Ingram went from New Orleans to Toronto, which is 5½ games out of the play-in bracket. And still, he’s moving up in the standings, from the Pelicans’ 12-39 record (dead last in the West) to the Raptors’ 16-35.

Meanwhile, the Jazz inserted themselves into a couple of deals to help facilitate things, including the Lakers-Mavericks swap and the Warriors-Miami deal that brought Butler to the Bay Area and sent Andrew Wiggins to South Florida. Utah took on Dennis Schröder from the Warriors, and turned around and dealt him to Detroit today. (Interestingly, the Pistons were also part of that four-way deal with the Warriors and Heat on Wednesday, but … salary cap machinations, ya know.)

Utah also acquired two second-round picks from the Lakers in the Doncic-A.D. deal, a 2030 second from the Clippers along with Mo Bamba (subsequently waived) and P.J. Tucker in the Clippers deal, and a 2031 first from Phoenix for the Suns’ 2025, 2027 and 2029 first-rounders. Still scratching my head on the motivation for that one.

And the craziest thing? Ainge, who ran the Boston Celtics’ front office for years after being a thorn in the Lakers’ side as a player, certainly had no intent of helping the Lakers unduly. And the word coming out of Salt Lake City is that he did the Lakers a solid from a salary cap standpoint by absorbing Hood-Schifino’s contract but wasn’t aware of the full magnitude of the trade until an hour before it was completed, well after he had agreed to acquire Hood-Schifino for those picks and too late to turn back.

Tough business, right?

Anyway, Mirjam, you get the calm before the storm tonight. The Lakers play the Warriors in downtown L.A., but Luka won’t play. (Maybe Saturday afternoon against the Pacers is the consensus, which is why ESPN added that game to its schedule.) And I will be surprised if Butler is wearing a Warriors uniform tonight, but getting out of Miami – and getting the extension from the Warriors that he’d sought, and that had led to his acting out – is certainly going to motivate him.

Mirjam: No, no Jimmy, nor Luka tonight. But we’ll have Steph and LeBron and I’m not taking another one of these all-time matchups for granted, fleeting as they seem.

I have to say, for all the moving pieces – and there were a lot; more, honestly, than I expected considering the current CBA’s constrictions – none of it really felt especially profound or dramatic or, well, exciting following Saturday night’s bombshell.

All these moves feel almost quaint, even though some of them will likely determine the fate of this season. Still though, it feels like the basketball world is still reverberating from the Doncic-A.D. trade, which was the kind of transcendent sports story that even non-NBA fans will remember.

That’s in some part because it led to some soul searching among even the most seemingly untouchable NBA players, all but two of whom (the Suns’ Bradley Beal and LeBron, with their no-trade clauses) realized even they might have to worry about being traded not at their behest (hello, Warrior Jimmy), but without consulting the primary subject because someone in the front office thinks it’s a good idea.

Tough business, basketball. For sure.

​ Orange County Register 

Fox News hires president’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump for weekend show on network

• February 6, 2025

By DAVID BAUDER

NEW YORK (AP) — Fox News Channel has hired the president’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, to be host of a new weekend show that will debut later this month.

Trump was a contributor who made appearances on Fox in 2021 and 2022, after President Donald Trump lost his bid for a second term, then served as co-chair of the Republican National Committee.

Her hourlong show, “My View with Lara Trump,” will air at 9 p.m. on Saturday nights, Fox announced on Wednesday. She’s scheduled to start her show on Feb. 22.

Fox said in its announcement that Trump’s show “will focus on the return of common sense to all corners of American life as the country ushers in a new era of practicality.”

Political relatives are no stranger to television, although this is believed to be the first time someone so closely related to a U.S. president has been given such a prominent TV role while the politician is in office.

Former President George W. Bush’s daughter Jenna has been a longtime host on NBC’s “Today” show. Chelsea Clinton also worked as a reporter for NBC News while her mother Hillary was secretary of state. Meghan McCain, daughter of the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, was a host on ABC’s daytime talk show “The View.”

“I’m thrilled to bring my voice back to Fox News, talk directly with the American people, and highlight what makes this country so great,” Lara Trump said in a statement released by Fox. “As I cover the success of the golden age of America, I look forward to where this time will lead our country and where this opportunity will lead me in the future.”

Her father-in-law has had a complicated relationship with Fox News, even as many of its personalities support his policies. He’s known to complain on social media if he sees something on the network that he considers disloyal.

Meanwhile, the president has staffed his new administration with several former Fox employees — 19, by a recent count in The New York Times — headlined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Fox’s prime-time lineup is largely filled with opinion shows. Sean Hannity spoke frequently with Trump during his first term and has interviewed the president since his return to office.

It was unclear how Lara Trump’s show came together. Married to Donald Trump’s son Eric, she said in December that she would consider running for a Senate seat in Florida in 2026.

Her new show will displace one hosted by Fox personality Brian Kilmeade, which is moving to Sunday nights.

In a statement, Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott called Lara Trump “a gifted communicator who knows how to connect to the viewers, successful entrepreneur and working mother.”

David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social

​ Orange County Register 

Starbucks’ new cup messages leave customers entertained, confused

• February 6, 2025

By Truth Headlam and Daniela Sirtori | Bloomberg

Under a new Starbucks policy, coffee drinkers are starting to see Sharpie-scrawled messages on their to-go cups wishing them a great weekend or simply saying, “Enjoy.”

The personalized notes, which the chain began rolling out in late January, are a bid to better connect with customers. The messages are lightening up some people’s days, but they’re not always landing quite right.

“Starbucks is really going to start some trouble with their new policy,” one TikTok user posted, sharing a video of her boyfriend’s cup with a winking face drawn on it. The post has raked up more than 38,000 likes.

Also see: Starbucks, union agree to mediation to get talks over finish line

One TikTok user credited a note she received on her order — “ur doing amazing” — with making her day. But another poster lamented that the encouraging messages stopped feeling special upon realizing “it’s just a new Starbucks policy.”

Starbucks coffee cups have long been something of a status symbol, with their premium pricing and a distinctive look, stamped with the company’s recognizable mermaid logo. But for some customers, the chain’s allure has been fading.

Price hikes, boycotts and long waits led to sales declines during Starbucks’ 2024 fiscal year, marking the chain’s first annual decline since the pandemic.

The scribbles on cups are part of a slew of changes orchestrated by Chief Executive Officer Brian Niccol to turn things around. Niccol, who started at Starbucks in September, is seeking to make the company’s thousands of coffee shops more of a destination again, including new ceramic mugs for dine-in customers and macchiato art.

Also see: Starbucks reverses its open-door policy

The new personalized messages are a “simple, yet meaningful action that fosters moments of connection with our customers” and will be an expectation starting in late February, according to a company memo seen by Bloomberg News. The memo gave as examples the option of drawing a smiley face or writing out a customer’s name; workers could also consider sharing well wishes like “seize the day” or a “hello again” for regulars.

Starbucks will give stores additional hours where needed to account for the new task, starting Feb. 24, according to the memo.

The company is also planning to test a new approach to staffing levels in 700 stores to ensure workers can handle orders, Niccol said in late January. The pilot will inform whether the company needs to add more coverage to stores.

But some workers have concerns that the notes directive will slow down service. For example, in one store a barista is being reassigned to exclusively focus on writing on cups during the busiest times. Otherwise, the location wouldn’t be able to keep up with adding notes to all orders, according to a worker who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

The open-ended nature of the policy is also stretching the limit of some imaginations. “I’m running out of ideas,” one employee wrote in a Monday post on TikTok.

Workers with writer’s block may find some inspiration from peers who are sharing examples of their work. “Every sip begins with S,” read one green-and-white Starbucks cup shared online, “S for Starbucks.”

​ Orange County Register 

Horse racing notes: Truly Quality puts win streak on the line at Santa Anita

• February 6, 2025

SANTA ANITA LEADERS

(Through Sunday)

Jockeys / Wins

Juan Hernandez / 26

Flavien Prat / 24

Umberto Rispoli / 18

Hector Berrios / 15

Tiago Pereira / 11

Trainers / Wins

Bob Baffert / 15

Mark Glatt / 12

Jeff Mullins / 12

Doug O’Neill / 10

George Papaprodromou / 9

UPCOMING STAKES

SANTA ANITA

Saturday

• $100,000, Grade III San Marcos Stakes, 4-year-olds and up, 1¼ miles on turf

Sunday

• $100,000 Sweet Life Stakes, 3-year-old fillies, about 6½ furlongs on turf

DOWN THE STRETCH

• Truly Quality (Vincent Cheminaud riding), the Hollywood Turf Cup winner at Del Mar, goes for his fourth win in a row for trainer Jonathan Thomas when the 5-year-old gelding faces seven others in Saturday’s San Marcos Stakes at Santa Anita. Divin Propos (Umberto Rispoli) looks like the opponent most likely to improve on his Hollywood Turf Cup defeat.

• Monty Arrossa, one of Los Alamitos’ leading quarter-horse trainers, had three horses test positive for the prohibited bronchodilator carmoterol, according to the California Horse Racing Board’s website. American Dreamin failed tests twice, including after winning the Oct. 27 Golden State Million Futurity; Ab Seis Corazones once, after running second in the Nov. 10 Los Alamitos Super Derby; and Blood Viper once, in an out-of-competition test Oct. 20. Arrossa continues to enter horses during an investigation.

• A fatal injury to the 3-year-old colt Brummel in training Jan. 30 at Santa Anita marked the third death in racing and training since the Dec. 26 start of the current season at the Arcadia track, according to data on the CHRB site. That matches the number of deaths in the same period last year.

• The wins at Santa Anita on Saturday by Citizen Bull in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes and Kopion in the Santa Monica Stakes were validated by big Beyer speed figures. Citizen Bull’s 1:36.71 clocking for 1 mile received a 98 Beyer, the highest in a Kentucky Derby qualifying points race this season, and Kopion’s 1:21.27 for 7 furlongs got a 110, the best in any race in 2025.

• Kopion’s three stakes wins have all come in 7-furlong sprints, but trainer Richard Mandella said he would think about running the 4-year-old daughter of Omaha Beach in the 1-mile B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile at Santa Anita on March 8. Mandella trained Beholder, an Eclipse Award winner at ages 2, 3, 5 and 6.

• The Thoroughbred Owners of California recognized leading owners for 2024 in statistics compiled at the state’s racetracks. Reddam Racing led in earnings for the fourth consecutive year with $2,031,442, led by Stay and Scam. Hronis Racing led in wins with 35 from 142 starts, including Full Serrano in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Cuyathy LLC and the partnership of Sondereker Racing, Eric Kruljac, Robert Fetkin and Richard Thornburgh tied for the lead in stakes wins with five each; Cuyathy’s winners included Johannes, and the partnership raced The Chosen Vron.

• While no thoroughbred racing is scheduled this year in Northern California, harness racing continues at Cal Expo in Sacramento every Friday (6:45 p.m. first post) and Saturday (6:30) in a four-month meet through May 2. This week features a pair of $20,000 California Sire Stakes, Friday’s for 4-year-old pacing colts and geldings, Saturday’s for 4-year-old pacing fillies. Despite the names, the races include horses from out of state. Friday’s favorite is Alien Art Form (with Ryan Grundy driving), who’s from Canada, and Saturday’s is Over Ice (with Cal Expo leader Nick Roland), in from Minnesota.

— Kevin Modesti

​ Orange County Register 

A spine-zapping implant helped 3 people with a muscle-wasting disease walk better

• February 6, 2025

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three people with a muscle-destroying disease destined to worsen got a little stronger – able to stand and walk more easily – when an implanted device zapped their spinal cord.

On Wednesday, researchers reported what they called the first evidence that a spine-stimulating implant already being tested for paralysis might also aid neurodegenerative diseases like spinal muscle atrophy – by restoring some muscle function, at least temporarily.

“These people were definitely not expecting an improvement,” said Marco Capogrosso, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh who led the research. Yet over the month-long pilot study, “they were getting better and better.”

Spinal muscle atrophy or SMA is a genetic disease that gradually destroys motor neurons, nerve cells in the spinal cord that control muscles. That leads muscles to waste away, especially in the legs, hips and shoulders and sometimes those involved with breathing and swallowing. There is no cure. A gene therapy can save the lives of very young children with a severe form of the disease, and there are some medicines to slow worsening in older patients.

Stimulating the spinal cord with low levels of electricity has long been used to treat chronic pain but Capogrosso’s team also has tested it to help people paralyzed from strokes or spinal cord injury move their limbs unaided. While turned on, it zaps circuits of dormant nerves downstream of the injury to activate muscles.

Then Capogrosso wondered if that same technology might help SMA in a similar way — by revving up related sensory nerves so they wake up damaged muscle cells, helping them move to combat wasting.

The Pitt researchers implanted electrodes over the lower spinal cord of three adults with SMA and tested their muscle strength, fatigue, range of motion and changes in gait and walking distance when the device was firing and when it was turned off.

It didn’t restore normal movement but with just a few hours of spinal stimulation a week, all quickly saw improvements in muscle strength and function, researchers reported in the journal Nature Medicine.

“With a progressive disease you never get any better,” said study participant Doug McCullough, 57, of Franklin Park, New Jersey. “Either you’re staying stable or getting worse. So having any improvement is just a really surreal and very exciting benefit.”

All three participants significantly increased how far they could walk in six minutes, and one who initially couldn’t stand from a kneeling position could by the study’s end, Capogrosso said. And McCullough’s gait changed so that each step was about three times longer.

“They get less fatigued so they can walk for longer,” Capogrosso said. “Even a person this many years into the disease can improve.”

Intriguingly, researchers found the improvements didn’t disappear as soon as the stimulator was switched off, though they did fade as participants were tracked after the study ended.

McCullough said even when the stimulator was turned off, some nights his legs “would just feel supercharged.”

While he understood that the device had to be removed at the study’s end, he was disappointed. He said there were some lingering benefits at his six-week checkup, but none after six months.

Neuroscientist Susan Harkema, who led pioneering studies of stimulation for spinal cord injuries while at the University of Louisville, cautioned the new study is small and short but called it an important proof of concept. She said it’s logical to test the technique against a list of muscle-degenerating diseases.

“Human spinal circuitry is very sophisticated – it’s not just a bunch of reflexes controlled by the brain,” said Harkema, now with the Kessler Foundation, a rehabilitation research nonprofit. “This is a very solid study, an important contribution to move forward.”

At Pitt, Capogrosso said some small but longer studies are getting underway.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

​ Orange County Register 

Clippers trade Terance Mann and Bones Hyland for Atlanta’s Bogdan Bogdanovic

• February 6, 2025

The Clippers traded Terance Mann and Bones Hyland to the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday for shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic and three second-round draft picks. Shams Charania of ESPN was the first to report the trade.

Mann has long been coveted by the Clippers, who have previously declined offers to include him in potential trades. But this season, the 6-foot-5 wing has fallen behind in coach Tyronn Lue’s rotation, in favor of such players as Kevin Porter Jr. and Amir Coffey. He played mostly with the second unit or insignificant minutes in blowouts.

Mann was averaging 6.0 points a game, the lowest since 2019 when he was a newly drafted shooting guard averaging 2.4 points.

The Clippers acquired Hyland, a high-energy guard, from the Denver Nuggets in 2023 in exchange for two second-round draft picks. In his first 14 games in Los Angeles, Hyland scored an average of 10.8 points and 3.5 rebounds. His flashy style often gave the Clippers a lift down the stretch.

But he recently saw his role slowly decrease and had appeared in just 20 games this season.

In Bogdanovic, the Clippers get a 32-year-old seasoned swingman who can still be a third or fourth scoring option and knockdown shooter. He is in the middle of a down season but could still make an impact on the Clippers’ second unit.

He has one guaranteed year left on his contract at $16 million for 2025-26 before a $16 million team option in 2026-27.

Bogdanovic is averaging 10 points this season, down from 16.9 points last season. He scored a season-high 23 points in his second-to-last game with the Hawks.

​ Orange County Register 

NCAA changes transgender policy to limit women’s competition to athletes assigned female at birth

• February 6, 2025

By ERIC OLSON, AP Sports Writer

The NCAA changed its participation policy for transgender athletes on Thursday, limiting competition in women’s sports to athletes assigned female at birth only.

The move came one day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order intended to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports. The order gives federal agencies latitude to withhold federal funding from entities that do not abide by Title IX in alignment with the Trump administration’s view, which interprets “sex” as the gender someone was assigned at birth.

The NCAA policy change is effective immediately and applies to all athletes regardless of previous eligibility reviews under the NCAA’s prior transgender participation policy. The organization has more than 1,200 schools with more than 500,000 athletes, easily the largest governing body for college athletics in the U.S.

“We strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said. “To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard.”

The NCAA’s revised policy permits athletes assigned male at birth to practice with women’s teams and receive benefits such as medical care while practicing.

​ Orange County Register 

Santa Ana reaffirms city’s sanctuary promises

• February 6, 2025

The Santa Ana City Council this week reaffirmed its dedication to protecting all of the city’s residents regardless of immigration status, however, it is unclear whether it will consider again a Sanctuary Policy Advisory Group to review and possibly strengthen the city’s sanctuary protections.

City Manager Alvaro Nuñez said he will work alongside the city attorney to make sure the city is in full compliance with its sanctuary ordinance and “come up with an approach” that speaks to the language and “spirit of the ordinance.”

In 2016, Santa Ana became the first city in Orange County to declare itself a sanctuary city, prohibiting the use of city resources for immigration enforcement. With the city’s official sanctuary ordinance in 2017, the Sanctuary Policy Advisory Group was to advise city leaders on protecting immigrant residents and sanctuary city policies.

“I believe that we must continue to work with trusted, experienced organizations that have been in this fight from the beginning, organizations that have proven to prioritize the needs of our residents,” City Councilmember Jessie Lopez said adding she didn’t think the city would “lose anything by ensuring that we have access to experts, by ensuring that we have technical expertise and real data that we can rely on to inform our policy-making decisions.”

She is requesting the council revive the advisory group, which she said last met in 2020, following a flurry of activity from the Trump administration stepping up federal immigration enforcement, sparking fear in Orange County’s immigrant communities.

Whether the group ever existed was questioned by Mayor Valerie Amezcua and Councilmember David Penaloza, as well as the city attorney and city manager.

When asked about the existence of the group, City Manager Alvaro Nuñez said, “We’re still doing formal research to indicate any type of listing, and maybe because it’s been a long time since they met … as far as a formal established committee or setting, no.”

City Attorney Sonia Carvalho also said she could not find “anything to suggest the Sanctuary Policy Advisory Group had ever been in existence.”

Documents on the city’s website include calendar entries in 2018 for Robert Cortez, the former deputy city manager, for what are labeled as meetings of the group, along with former Police Chief David Valentin as well as folks from Resilience OC, UCI Law and other groups. There is also a 2017 record of the City Council having received and filed an update on the advisory group.

Community members at Tuesday night’s meeting told the council they had participated in the advisory group.

The need for such a group now was part of the council’s discussion at Tuesday night’s meeting. Amezcua pointed to the city’s current executive leadership.

“These protections are now embedded within our institutional framework, making them a permanent and effective part of city operations. The goals of the Sanctuary Policy Advisory Group have been successfully realized,” Amezcua said. “Inclusivity and immigrant rights are not just initiatives. They are fundamental values ingrained in our policies and in our practices. As a result, a separate advisory group is no longer necessary.”

Councilmember Thai Viet Phan said the data and information collected from experts can be submitted to the city manager’s office.

“Despite the fact that we may disagree on many other items, I believe that this council stands in solidarity with our immigrant communities,” Phan said. “If there’s information, if there’s data, if there are issues that you want to raise, there’s, I assume, nothing stopping anyone from sharing that with our city manager’s office, and I expect that you (Nuñez) will be receptive to this information so that we can ensure our policies and our procedures are reflective of best practices as much as possible.”

Part of the group’s identified tasks was to make recommendations on the use and oversight of the city’s Deportation Defense Fund, money used to provide legal defense to residents facing deportation. Councilmembers Johnathan Ryan Hernandez, Benjamin Vazquez and Phan recommended the oversight of the fund be brought back to the council as a separate item.

A joint letter from the Harbor Institute for Immigrant & Economic Justice, El Centro Cultural de México and VietRISE asked the City Council to consider separating the city’s legal defense fund from the advisory group.

“The fund has historically suffered gaps in outreach and services that remain unaddressed, particularly in relation to the city’s Southeast Asian refugee community members,” the letter said. “Seeing as the fund’s current provider was the only bidder for the next fund contract, the fund should first be restructured to 1) increase the scope of services and 2) expand outreach to communities not currently serviced before advancing any process that would result in granting the current provider the contract again.”

A request for proposals seeking a contractor to manage the defense fund was put out last November, however, only one organization applied, officials said. Hernandez said he would like to see a more inclusive contracting process.

“We need all hands on deck right now,” Hernandez said. “I want to ensure that we expand outreach to communities who are currently not being serviced before moving forward with any process that results in granting the current provider with the full contract amount.”

​ Orange County Register