“The most important thing to remember, is that you may not have papers, but you do have rights. You have the right to remain silent. You do not have to respond to immigration’s questions,” Davenport said. “If they ask where you were born or where you live, just say you’d prefer not to answer.”
The hope is that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials will decide you are too much of a hassle and will not bother pursuing someone who shows they have a clear understanding of their legal rights, she said.
“I’ve always wanted to vote and help pick the president,” says Alex Salas, an 18-year-old senior at Golden Valley High School in Merced. “It means a lot to me and I’m excited to be able to pick the person that I believe should run our country.”
Salas is a member of the city’s Youth Council, a youth counterpart to the Merced City Council. He says that while he’s disappointed with the Republican win, he still believes in the importance of exercising his right to vote.
“I got a lot of support from other people of color in the area, which I think is important,” Lor said. “Being in the community for so long, it was frustrating to speak but not be heard and to see but not be seen.”
Growing up in Merced County, Lor said she is intimately familiar with many of the struggles residents still face and has worked hard over the last 15 years to help strengthen the community.
Time, cost and transportation were among the barriers cited by respondents. The Field Poll also found that African Americans were among those less likely to visit the coast, with 33 percent saying they visit less than once a year and citing an inability to swim as the key factor. Families earning more than $60,000 were also more likely to visit more often than families earning less than $40,000.
The bilingual forum drew nearly 70 people and was a joint effort from BHC Merced’s Neighborhood Action Team, Health Equity Project and the Merced Organizing Project.
Organizers invited all the candidates running for Merced City Council Districts 1, 3 and 5 - the only three district seats up for grabs this election year.
Part of the problem is indifference, said 16-year-old Cheng Vang, a student at Buhach Colony High School in Atwater. While this election cycle has been full of turmoil and drama, many of his friends and classmates don’t regularly follow politics and therefore don’t feel a personal connection to any of the issues on the ballot.
If the voting age were lowered to 16, however, Vang said youth would be more likely to pay attention and start forming consistent voting habits.
I am trying to bring an annual Nut Festival to Merced, to really make us a destination place while creating jobs for our citizens including a summer youth employment program for ages 16-19. I want to bring all the communities together to focus on how to move Merced together in a positive way that will include UC Merced students and fostering an atmosphere where they can use the skills they have acquired, creating new tech companies and expanding our health care while giving back to the community through helping with students in our city schools. This will help elevate ALL areas of our community creating jobs, which promotes public safety by lowering the crime level.
Growing up in the Valley shaped me. It made me who I am and the problems I’m passionate to solve. Merced is home, and it’s desperately in need of help. Our crime rate is among the nation's highest. Over a third of our people [live] below the poverty line, and our children suffer from epidemics of chronic disease. But we also have world-class resources and, if we do things right, a chance to really reinvent Merced and transform the region that raised me.
I like to bring forth a stronger investment in our youth. One idea I have is to work with Downtown businesses to create a summer youth internship program with the city. Often our youth have nothing to do in the summer; and I want to make sure we are investing in them and keeping them off the street especially from those members of our community who are looking to recruit them into gangs.
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