Latest news with #Aguilar
The Herald Scotland
13 hours ago
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
Fans support LA community after feds turned up at Dodger Stadium
Aguilar, a lifelong Dodgers fan who says he was born and raised in Los Angeles, stood near the intersection on a corner near Dodger Stadium five hours before the team's game. And three hours before a scheduled protest sparked by the Dodgers' silence amidst immigration raids and unrest in Los Angeles. "At least make a statement," said Aguilar, 72, who said he drove from his home about two miles from the stadium. Aguilar held a sign that said "Dodger Boo" instead of "Dodger Blue" and many motorists honked as they drove past. Aguilar said he was old enough to remember when Latinos were displaced from the Chavez Ravine area to make way for the construction of Dodger Stadium, critical to luring the Dodgers to Los Angeles from Brooklyn in the 1950s. "I still love them, but say something," Aguilar said. "Especially on this day of Juneteenth. We stand on the shoulders of Martin Luther King and Cesar Chavez." But even as drivers honked in apparent support of Aguilar's message, he said that "whether (the team) says something or not, people will still be Dodgers fans." Himself included. Amanda Carrera, who said she is a singer who wrote a song called "Dodger Girl," arrived with a sign that said "Proud to be a Latina." "I love the Los Angeles Dodgers," said Carrera, 31. "I love my community even more." Graffiti artists have left their mark near the ballpark, clearly targeting the organization over its perceived silence amidst the protests with messages like "stop selling out," "LA is our home" and "silence is the problem."
USA Today
17 hours ago
- Politics
- USA Today
Dodger Stadium live updates: Los Angeles fans protest after feds showed up at ballpark
Dodger Stadium live updates: Los Angeles fans protest after feds showed up at ballpark Show Caption Hide Caption Trump orders ICE more illegal immigration deportations in LA, Chicago President Trump ordered ICE to deliver "the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History" by expanding operations in cities led by Democrats. LOS ANGELES — In a simmering dispute, the Los Angeles Dodgers say Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were denied entry to the stadium grounds – while ICE says the agency was "never there." Who indisputably is here: Al Aguilar, one of many expected to gather outside the stadium hours before the Dodgers faced the San Diego Padres. Aguilar, a lifelong Dodgers fan who says he was born and raised in Los Angeles, stood near the intersection on a corner near Dodger Stadium five hours before the team's game. And three hours before a scheduled protest sparked by the Dodgers' silence amidst immigration raids and unrest in Los Angeles. 'At least make a statement,' said Aguilar, 72, who said he drove from his home about two miles from the stadium. Aguilar held a sign that said 'Dodger Boo' instead of 'Dodger Blue' and many motorists honked as they drove past. Aguilar said he was old enough to remember when Latinos were displaced from the Chavez Ravine area to make way for the construction of Dodger Stadium, critical to luring the Dodgers to Los Angeles from Brooklyn in the 1950s. "I still love them, but say something," Aguilar said. "Especially on this day of Juneteenth. We stand on the shoulders of Martin Luther King and Cesar Chavez." But even as drivers honked in apparent support of Aguilar's message, he said that "whether (the team) says something or not, people will still be Dodgers fans." Himself included. Amanda Carrera, who said she is a singer who wrote a song called "Dodger Girl," arrived with a sign that said "Proud to be a Latina." "I love the Los Angeles Dodgers," said Carrera, 31. "I love my community even more."
San Francisco Chronicle
11-06-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
‘We are human': Los Angeles residents explain the drive behind days of mass protests
LOS ANGELES — As protesters hit the streets here Tuesday for a fifth consecutive day to denounce arrests of immigrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, President Trump intensified his rhetoric, calling Angelenos 'animals' and 'a foreign enemy' and vowing to 'liberate' the city. The Chronicle spoke to protesters in Los Angeles to hear about what drove them to take action. One wore a flag bearing the statement: 'We are human.' Others spoke of their concern over racial profiling, treatment of immigrants and family members. Excerpts from those interviews are below. Trump has ordered 2,000 California National Guard troops and 700 U.S. Marines into Los Angeles — moves Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday criticized as illegal and dangerous. 'This brazen abuse of power by a sitting President inflamed a combustible situation… putting our people, our officers, and the National Guard at risk,' Newsom said in a speech Tuesday night. The demonstrations in Los Angeles have spurred a dramatic protest movement across the U.S., with large crowds gathering in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Seattle and St. Louis. Newsom said more than 370 people have been arrested in Los Angeles on vandalism and violence since the protests began Friday, following ICE's arrests at a clothing factory. On Tuesday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass imposed an 8 p.m. to 6 a.m curfew in a square-mile area of downtown Los Angeles after 23 businesses were looted. Meanwhile, ICE arrests continued in Los Angeles and other parts of the U.S. Steven Steven, 24, who declined to provide his surname, said he is upset that people are being detained by ICE when they attend immigration court appointments. The Los Angeles resident stood with hundreds of others at Gloria Molina Grand Park for a vigil against deportations, wrapped in a flag reading 'We are human.' 'I don't think it's right,' Steven said. 'They are taking away people who are just trying to have a better life. I'm not even talking about deporting criminals.' Steven said he was also concerned that many people without criminal records are being targeted — pointing to cases of a high school girl and her mother who were arrested at immigration court. Frida Aguilar Frida Aguilar, 22, of Los Angeles, came out to protest downtown 'for my family,' she said, including many who are 'Dreamers' under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Aguilar stood wrapped in a Mexican flag at the corner of Los Angeles and Temple Streets, accompanied by her friend Yaire Linares, who was wrapped in a Guatemalan flag. 'It's getting insane out here,' Aguilar said. Aguilar said she was upset with how immigration officials seem to ignore due process in detaining and deporting people and with how they use racial profiling to stop people. She cited a case, reported by NBC News, in which ICE detained a U.S. marshal in Arizona because he 'fit the general description of a subject being sought by ICE.' Aguilar criticized Trump's characterization of the violence in Los Angeles, saying that 'the violence is occurring because they are provoking… us.' 'We are trying to speak for people who don't have a voice,' Aguilar said. Nico Chavez Nico Chavez said he attended the demonstration in support of 'my people.' 'It's why my parents came here!' Chavez said. Chavez was protesting with hundreds of others outside a federal building in Los Angeles when police started firing rubber bullets. Chavez was near a pedestrian bridge when he heard the bullets. 'That was scary!' Chavez said. 'I was just throwing up a peace sign; I wasn't doing anything.' Bianca Stopani Bianca Stopani, 36, of Los Angeles, said she decided to protest because she doesn't think ICE 'telling us we can't be here' is fair. Stopani said she is the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants. 'My parents fought for a better life,' Stopani said. 'It's my turn to fight for them.' Stopani said she has protested before, including against the Iraq War when she was 14. She said Trump is 'such a hypocrite.' 'He wants to talk about Latino people being criminals, but he's the one who has all these RICO [Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act] charges,' Stopani said. Aleah and Kimberly Aleah, 19, of Pomona, was protesting — for a third day — for her parents, who came into the United States without authorization when they were children. 'I am protesting for my parents and for the right to not to be taken away,' Aleah said. Aleah, a U.S. citizen, was protesting in Los Angeles, alongside her friends, including Kimberly, a 19-year-old from East Los Angeles. Aleah said Trump's criticism of immigrants and protesters appalled her. 'I don't think a criminal should be talking against hard-working people who take all of the dirty labor jobs no one else wants,' Aleah said. 'He [Trump] should be looking for real criminals.' Kimberly said she thinks Trump is targeting 'Hispanics and Latino people and a lot of people are letting him get away with it and it needs to stop.' 'Trump is getting away with a lot, and I think people are finally realizing it,' Kimberly said. Chronicle Staff Writer Molly Burke contributing to this report.
Time of India
10-06-2025
- Time of India
Some visitors report extra scrutiny at US airports as Trump's new travel ban begins, ET TravelWorld
Advt Advt Join the community of 2M+ industry professionals Subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights & analysis. Download ETTravelWorld App Get Realtime updates Save your favourite articles Scan to download App President Donald Trump 's new ban on travel to the US by citizens from a dozen countries took effect on Monday with relative calm, as some travellers with valid visas reported extra scrutiny at American airports before being allowed ban targeting mainly African and Middle Eastern countries kicked in amid rising tension over the president's escalating campaign of immigration enforcement. But it arrived with no immediate signs of the chaos that unfolded at airports across the US during Trump 's first travel ban in Aguilar said she was anxious on Monday as she and her husband, both Guatemalan citizens, were subjected to three different interviews by US officials after arriving at Miami International Airport and showing tourist visas the couple received last week."They asked us where we work, how many children we have, if we have had any problems with the law, how we are going to afford the cost of this travel, how many days we will stay here," said Aguilar, who along with her husband was visiting their son for the first time since he left Guatemala 22 years said they were released about an hour after their flight landed, greeting their waiting family members in Florida with tears of relief. Guatemala is not among the countries included in the new ban or flagged for extra travel new ban shouldn't revoke previously issued visasThe new proclamation that Trump signed last week applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It also imposes heightened restrictions on people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone , Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela who are outside the US and don't hold a valid new ban does not revoke visas previously issued to people from countries on the list, according to guidance issued Friday to all US diplomatic missions. However, unless an applicant meets narrow criteria for an exemption to the ban, his or her application will be rejected starting Monday. Travellers with previously issued visas should still be able to enter the US even after the ban takes effect. Narayana Lamy , a Haitian citizen who works for his home country's government, said he was told to wait after showing his passport and tourist visa on Monday at the Miami airport while a US official confirmed by phone that he was allowed into the country to visit family members. Luis Hernandez , a Cuban citizen and green card holder who has lived in the US for three years, said he had no problems returning on Monday to Miami after a weekend visiting family in Cuba."They did not ask me anything," Hernandez said. "I only showed my residency card."Ban appears to avoid chaos that followed Trump's first-term attemptDuring Trump's first term, a hastily written executive order ordering the denial of entry to citizens of mainly Muslim countries created chaos at numerous airports and other ports of entry, prompting successful legal challenges and major revisions to the immigration experts say the new ban is more carefully crafted and appears designed to beat court challenges that hampered the first by focusing on the visa application said this time that some countries had "deficient" screening for passports and other public documents or have historically refused to take back their own citizens. He relied extensively on an annual Homeland Security report of people who remain in the US after their visas also tied the new ban to a terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado, saying it underscored the dangers posed by some visitors who overstay visas. US officials say the man charged in the attack overstayed a tourist visa. He is from Egypt, which isn't on Trump's restricted say travel ban sows divisionThe ban was quickly denounced by groups that provide aid and resettlement help to refugees."This policy is not about national security - it is about sowing division and vilifying communities that are seeking safety and opportunity in the United States," said Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America, a nonprofit international relief transitional presidential council said in a statement that the ban "is likely to indiscriminately affect all Haitians" and that it hopes to persuade the US to drop Haiti from the list of banned Venezuela, some visa holders changed US travel plans last week to get ahead of Trump's restrictions. For those without visas, the new restrictions may not matter much. Since Venezuela and the US severed diplomatic relations in 2019, Venezuelans have had to travel to neighbouring South American countries to obtain US visas. Jose Luis Vegas , a tech worker in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, said his uncle gave up on renewing an expired US visa because it was already difficult before the restrictions."Paying for hotels and tickets was very expensive, and appointments took up to a year," Vegas said.
The Star
10-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
Shoppers are wary of digital shelf labels, but a study found they don't lead to price surges
Digital price labels, which are rapidly replacing paper shelf tags at US supermarkets, haven't led to demand-based pricing surges, according to a new study that examined five years' worth of prices at one grocery chain. But some shoppers, consumer advocates and lawmakers remain sceptical about the tiny electronic screens, which let stores change prices instantly from a central computer instead of having workers swap out paper labels by hand. "It's corporations vs. the humans, and that chasm between us goes further and further,' said Dan Gallant, who works in sports media in Edmonton, Canada. Gallant's local Loblaws supermarket recently switched to digital labels. Social media is filled with warnings that grocers will use the technology to charge more for ice cream if it's hot outside, hike the price of umbrellas if it's raining or to gather information about customers. Democratic US Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania fired off a letter to Kroger last fall demanding to know whether it would use its electronic labels as part of a dynamic pricing strategy. Lawmakers in Rhode Island and Maine have introduced bills to limit the use of digital labels. In Arizona, Democratic state Rep. Cesar Aguilar recently introduced a bill that would ban them altogether. The bill hasn't gotten a hearing, but Aguilar said he's determined to start a conversation about digital labels and how stores could abuse them. "Grocery stores study when people go shopping the most. And so you might be able to see a price go down one day and then go up another day,' Aguilar told The Associated Press. Researchers say those fears are misplaced. A study published in late May found "virtually no surge pricing' before or after electronic shelf labels were adopted. The study was authored by Ioannis Stamatopoulos of the University of Texas, Austin, Robert Evan Sanders of the University of California, San Diego and Robert Bray of Northwestern University. Electronic grocery labels are displayed at a Kroger grocery store, in Monroe, Ohio. — AP The researchers looked at prices between 2019 and 2024 at an unnamed grocery chain that began using digital labels in October 2022. They found that temporary price increases affected 0.005% of products on any given day before electronic shelf labels were introduced, a share that increased by only 0.0006 percentage points after digital labels were installed. The study also determined that discounts were slightly more common after digital labels were introduced. Economists have long wondered why grocery prices don't change more often, according to Stamatopoulos. If bananas are about to expire, for example, it makes sense to lower the price on them. He said the cost of having workers change prices by hand could be one issue. But there's another reason: Shoppers watch grocery prices closely, and stores don't want to risk angering them. "Selling groceries is not selling a couch. It's not a one-time transaction and you will never see them again,' Stamatopoulos said. "You want them coming to the store every week.' Electronic price labels aren't new. They've been in use for more than a decade at groceries in Europe and some US retailers, like Kohl's. But they've been slow to migrate to US grocery stores. Only around 5% to 10% of US supermarkets now have electronic labels, compared to 80% in Europe, said Amanda Oren, vice president of industry strategy for North American grocery at Relex Solutions, a technology company that helps retailers forecast demand. Oren said cost is one issue that has slowed the US rollout. The tiny screens cost between US$5 (RM21) and US$20 (RM84), Oren said, but every product a store sells needs one, and the average supermarket has 100,000 or more individual products. Still, the US industry is charging ahead. Walmart, the nation's largest grocer and retailer, hopes to have digital price labels at 2,300 US stores by 2026. Kroger is expanding the use of digital labels this year after testing them at 20 stores. Whole Foods is testing the labels in nearly 50 stores. Companies say electronic price labels have tremendous advantages. Walmart says it used to take employees two days to change paper price labels on the 120,000 items it has in a typical store. With digital tags, it takes a few minutes. The labels can also be useful. Some have codes shoppers can scan to see recipes or nutrition information. Instacart has a system in thousands of US stores, including Aldi and Schnucks, that flashes a light on the digital tag when Instacart shoppers are nearby to help them find products. Ahold Delhaize's Albert Heijn supermarket chain in the Netherlands and Belgium has been testing an artificial intelligence-enabled tool since 2022 that marks down prices on its digital labels every 15 minutes for products nearing expiration. The system has reduced more than 250 tons of food waste annually, the company said. But Warren and Casey are sceptical. In their letter to Kroger, the US senators noted a partnership with Microsoft that planned to put cameras in grocery aisles and offer personalised deals to shoppers depending on their gender and age. In its response, Kroger said the prices shown on its digital labels were not connected to any sort of facial recognition technology. It also denied surging prices during periods of peak demand. "Kroger's business model is built on a foundation of lowering prices to attract more customers,' the company said. Aguilar, the Arizona lawmaker, said he also opposes the transition to digital labels because he thinks they will cost jobs. His constituents have pointed out that grocery prices keep rising even though there are fewer workers in checkout lanes, he said. "They are supposed to be part of our community, and that means hiring people from our community that fill those jobs," Aguilar said. But Relex Solutions' Oren said she doesn't think cutting labour costs is the main reason stores deploy digital price tags. "It's about working smarter, not harder, and being able to use that labour in better ways across the store rather than these very mundane, repetitive tasks,' she said. – AP
