Longtime Central Valley Resident Makes Difficult Decision To Voluntarily Leave U.S.

Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, July 9, 2025…

• The Trump administration continues immigration enforcement efforts across California. There’s growing concern among the state’s immigrant population about possible deportation. Many are not showing up to work. Some are even fearful of leaving the house at all. But one Central Valley resident made the difficult decision to leave the country on her own.
• U.S. Senator Alex Padilla from California is introducing a bill to require federal immigration officers to display ID – and show their faces. 
• Los Angeles city and county leaders say their communities are under siege and they’re taking legal action to stop what they call unconstitutional immigration raids.

One Woman’s Story Of Immigration And Leaving The U.S. Voluntarily

Patricia Vázquez Topete moved to the United States when she was 12. Relocating to the Central Valley town of Sanger, she came without any immediate family, leaving siblings and her parents behind in Mexico.

“I was not feeling very safe in my household. I’m a survivor of sexual abuse. So I was in a way fleeing that unsafe home situation,” Vázquez Topete said. ” And I was also trying to open up economic opportunities as a 12-year-old — coming from a poor family in Mexico and thinking, how would I be able to one day go to college and attain a degree.”

Vázquez Topete was a beneficiary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. As a DACA recipient, she graduated from Fresno Pacific University in 2015. But she never really had a pathway to citizenship.

With President Trump’s second term in office and his promise to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, Vázquez Topete said she thought long and hard about her future in the country. “I think it came down to this point for me. Our DACA program is going up in battle with the Supreme Court every couple of years. Then it goes down to the lower courts,” she said. “I have a work permit. I just sort of became emotionally exhausted of this uncertainty. I want to be able to move across different countries without feeling like I cannot come back to my home.” So in May, she decided to leave the country on her own. She’s in Mexico right now, and will be traveling to Spain for her master’s degree.

And what would she say to immigrants who are thinking of coming to the U.S. for the “American Dream?” “There is no such thing as only one dream in America. Our dreams exist beyond borders, right? I am reconnecting with my roots in Mexico, rediscovering my country, something I was never able to do before. And I’m on my way to Europe,” she said. “So unless you have that legal pathway upon leaving to the United States, consider other options. I think we have the power to create our own immigration narrative without feeling so confined to only one place and without being afraid of our status constantly every two years. ”

Senator Padilla Introduces New Bill Related To Immigration Officers

U.S. Senator Alex Padilla from California is introducing a bill to require federal immigration officers to display ID – and show their faces.

The bill – which Padilla co-wrote with New Jersey Senator Cory Booker – is called the “VISIBLE” Act. It would require federal agents with the Department of Homeland Security, including ICE, to have the name of their agency, and their own name or initials, visible on their uniforms. And it would prohibit them from wearing masks, unless they’re medical ones.

Padilla said in a statement that current operations – where agents are wearing tactical gear and covering their faces with balaclavas or scarves – are creating fear and distrust among the public – and could allow impersonators to kidnap people off the street.

Los Angeles And Other Cities Join Lawsuit Over Immigration Sweeps

Los Angeles is mounting a legal challenge to the immigration sweeps that have spread fear and outrage across the region in recent weeks.

L.A. city, county and surrounding communities announced Tuesday that they have joined a lawsuit that seeks to intervene in the federal actions that have swept the region since June.

“These unconstitutional roundups and raids cannot be allowed to continue,” said Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto. “This cannot become routine, to send militarized troops into our streets without reasonable suspicion, without probable cause, to round people up and take them away.”

The lawsuit, first filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups last week, accuses Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies of racially profiling people, conducting illegal stops and raids, using disproportionate force, and detaining people in conditions that deny them their constitutional rights. It asks the courts to intervene.