Quote of the Week
“The response from the community is unfortunately out of survival, but at the same time is a reflection that pride is forever, pride is ongoing, pride is not just an event, but a movement that continuously happens.”
— Kiana Hernandez, responding to Fresno County’s anti-LGBTQ ‘nuclear family’ resolution
This Week in Fresnoland
Analysis: The Rob Fuentes ICE controversy
Fresno City Council candidate Rob Fuentes quit the Trump Administration this week, just 10 days after Fresnoland’s Gisselle Medina connected the 40-year-old attorney and Democratic politician to ICE — 124 times.
Fuentes’ position as a liberal politician and a prosecutor for Donald Trump’s Justice Department has been an awkward thing for him to explain.
As a Trump Administration attorney, Fuentes defended ICE in federal court, a fact he never mentioned while criticizing Trump and ICE during his successful Fresno City Council primary campaign this Spring. Fresnoland first broke that story June 25.
But what did Fuentes actually do for ICE?
He’s (very) quick to argue that he “never worked an immigration case” and that’s not wrong, but, for most of his critics, it’s also the kind of technically correct hair-splitting that typically only appeals to defensive politicians and frustrated lawyers. (Think Bill Clinton arguing the semantics of “is” or 2016 Republicans parsing “supporting” and “endorsing.”)
The shortest version is this: Since immigration courts essentially eliminated bond hearings last year in thousands of cases, immigrants in custody have been forced to sue the Trump Administration to make the government prove its evidence in a courtroom. Thousands of so-called habeas petitions have been filed during Trump 2.0 and federal prosecutors like Fuentes have to defend ICE in those cases.
At least on paper, if a DOJ attorney successfully defends ICE in a habeas case, an immigrant would remain in detention and likely be deported. If the DOJ attorney loses a case, meaning ICE failed to show it has enough evidence in this theoretical example, then a judge could, among other options, order the immigrant released from custody.
Fuentes insists that he did his job and never misrepresented evidence in habeas cases.
“In my cases, I represent to the court when there is insufficient justification for immigration authorities holding individuals in detention,” Fuentes told Fresnoland.
Fuentes released statements online this week saying “the Trump Administration pushed me out,” but his split was too little and too late for critics like Alfred Aldrete, cofounder of Fresno Resistance, a community group calling for Fuentes to step down from his role on the community college board of trustees.
And Fuentes also managed to alienate ICE supporters AND the more-moderate ICE reformers.
“I do believe that ICE has become an unlawful and unhinged organization,” Fuentes told Fresnoland in June. “I think it should be abolished.”
In an op-ed piece for GV Wire, Bill McEwen called the comments “monumentally dumb” and a “facepalm moment.”
Fuentes announced his departure in a story first reported this week by The Fresno Bee, and the Justice Department declined to comment. But does anyone think the Trump Administration’s reaction is a real mystery?
Simultaneously alienating all sides of this long and heated national argument probably wasn’t what he had in mind for the launch of his November runoff for the Fresno City Council against nonprofit leader Naindeep Singh.
He’s got plenty of time to try and find a new lane for himself. But right now, when it comes to one of our nation’s most polarizing and passionate voter litmus tests, Rob Fuentes, the political candidate, looks like a man without a country.
Read the full story from Fresnoland’s Gisselle Medina here.
— Rob Parsons, senior editor
‘Pride is forever’
Queer families are finding ways to reclaim space in Fresno culture after a tumultuous few weeks.
Last month, Supervisor Garry Bredefeld made national headlines by convincing a majority of his fellow board members to use their elected political powers to formally exclude LGBTQ+ families from recognition in their own Fresno County communities.
The resolution was a direct rebuke, according to Bredefeld, of the United States’ decades-old Pride Month in June. The language in the resolution goes out of its way to define numerous types of families apparently acceptable to the Fresno County government.
Local photographers and shop owners have worked to help bring visibility, community, and acceptance through gatherings and open photo sessions celebrating LGBTQ+ love and families.
“They’re crossing the boundary that government never should have had a role in the first place,” said Alicia Rodriguez, “and are deciding things when it comes to our agency.”
Kiana Hernandez and Christine Rose, owner of Maarte, organized the photo session in a week and a half. They say the community’s swift response is more proof, Gisselle writes, “that Pride has always been rooted in resistance, not celebration alone.”
Read the full story from Fresnoland’s Gisselle Medina here.
The last hurdle could be the hardest
Fresno’s long and winding road to securing a transportation tax to replace the 40-year-old Measure C squeaked through the Clerk’s Office this week, collecting enough valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot — but that still doesn’t guarantee that voters will see it this year.
Now, it’s onto the July 14 Fresno County Board of Supervisors meeting, where skeptical supervisors, some of whom long criticized the plan, could order further study that would effectively run out the clock for the upcoming November election.
It’s a move that Board Chair Garry Bredefeld says he supports, calling it “due diligence.”
Read the full story from Fresnoland’s Julianna Morano here.
Indigenous immigrants struggle to find translators
Under the second Trump Administration, immigration cases have become even more complicated, with scarce and unreliable information coming from the federal government.
Those monumental challenges are compounded for many Indigenous migrants who are now required to obtain their own interpreters to communicate in native languages, including Mixteco.
Fresno immigration attorney Armida Mendoza says language barriers can mean the difference between defending your right to stay and accidentally signing your own deportation order.
Read the full story from Fresnoland’s Gisselle Medina here.
Is Fresno City Hall too reliant on AI tech?
Do Fresno city leaders have much control over their ability to control how they work with AI and software from tech companies?
Last month, City Manager Georgeanne White vented frustration over being held “captive” by tech companies, whose products the city relies on increasingly have adopted artificial intelligence to perform core functions.
The city doesn’t have an official AI policy yet, even as police officers are using it to draft police reports and a city contracted attorney got their hand slapped recently for potentially using AI in a court filing with fake citations.
Read the full story from Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad here.
Block Beat
Fresno County: For years, the county has maintained one of the highest rates of domestic violence but resources for survivors remain scarce. KVPR
Tower District: Creative plans are in the works for an iconic Tower District building as Fresno Music Academy & Arts prepares to move in. YourCentralValley
Fresno County: A case of meningococcal disease has been reported in the county. Common symptoms are fever, chills, headache, vomiting, drowsiness, sensitivity to light, fast breathing and a dark purple rash. ABC30
Orange Cove: Responding to outcry from residents, city leaders said “no” to hydrogen blending. Mid-Valley Times
City Hall: Join the OCA Civic Academy – Fall 2026 and learn how Fresno’s City government works and how you can be part of the process. Meetings begin Sept. 15. Community Affairs Office
Fresnoland: Gregory Weaver sits down with KVPR to discuss a wrongful termination lawsuit recently filed against one of Fresno’s most politically influential developers. Central Valley Daily
Sanger: The Kings River Land Trust invites the public to join them for an evening of star-gazing at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 16 at Kinney Ranch, 769 N. Piedra Road, Sanger. Kings River Land Trust
Clovis: Santi, a 5-year-old Belgian Malinois and Fresno County sheriff’s office K-9 officer, was struck by a vehicle Saturday near Shaw and Helm in Clovis by a driver who did not stop. Clovis police are investigating. ABC30
Clovis: Last week marked the seventh anniversary of California becoming the first state in the nation to pass the Crown Act, a law protecting people from discrimination based on natural hairstyles and textures.YourCentralValley
Granite Park: Fresno poised to make $400,000 in improvements at Granite Park after yearslong legal fight. ABC30
Central Valley: The California High Speed Rail Authority says it is about to start laying its first tracks through the Central Valley. YourCentralValley
Roeding: Golden Charter Academy will celebrate the grand opening of its new campus with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on July 15. The Business Journal
Chinatown: Fresno City College students take home top honors in design competition. ABC30
Fresno State: The ag-tech nonprofit F3 Innovate, or F3I, is launching a supercomputer– the first-of-its-kind in the region – to help farmers use AI to solve daily problems, and bring resources and technological support to Valley researchers and students. CVJC
