Politics
Arizona mining country produced Latino leaders for L.A. Now, some are staying
To get to Clifton, you have to really want to get to Clifton.
The nearest big city is Tucson, about three hours away. After spending the night at an uncharacteristically ratty Holiday Inn Express in Willcox, I took U.S. Route 191 through a succession of towns, each seemingly smaller than the last.
The morning drive was quiet and scenic through hills dotted with creosote bushes, spiky cacti and spindly ocotillo plants leading up to Safford, the hometown of a good friend who got the hell out of there. Route 191 bends east here, passing by blooming cotton fields nourished by the Gila River before the terrain becomes rockier and steeper.
Seven days. Seven states. Nearly 3,000 miles. Gustavo Arellano talks to Latinos across the Southwest about their hopes, fears and dreams in this election year.
Soon, I saw what has drawn so many to Clifton over the last 150 years: one of the world’s largest open-pit copper mines.
The Morenci mine looked like the Sarlacc monster from the “Star Wars” movies. Once-picturesque cliffs had been carved into a series of pale terraces that descended hundreds of feet. Dust rose from the bottom. Rows of houses with the same gray roofs stood below me as I drove past a training center operated by the mine owner, Freeport-McMoRan.
When you picture an Old West town, Clifton is it. A decommissioned railroad car stood gleaming next to the main road. A hole blasted out of a cliff once served as a jail cell, according to a plaque. Silhouettes of cowboys decorated a motel.
Times columnist Gustavo Arellano with a plaque commemorating a jail cell carved out of a cliff in Clifton, Ariz.
(Gustavo Arellano / Los Angeles Times)
I was looking for a different history.
For generations, Mexican immigrants have landed in this area before decamping to Los Angeles. Some of the most important names in L.A. Latino politics — former U.S. Rep. Esteban Torres, Councilmember Richard Alatorre, U.S. Treasurer Romana Acosta Bañuelos — were born in Arizona mining towns or traced their lineage there.
I share those roots.
1
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1. Richard Alatorre is among the L.A. politicians with roots in Arizona mining towns. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 2. The list includes Romana Acosta Bañuelos. (Bettmann Archive via Getty Images) 3. Esteban Torres also hails from mine country. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)
My maternal grandmother, Marcela Miranda Fernández, was born in 1912 near Clifton, in a town called Metcalf. Her future husband, my maternal grandfather, José Miranda Bermúdez, spent time there as a child before migrating to Anaheim to pick oranges.
My grandparents were always vague when they spoke about Metcalf — but I had vowed to visit one day. A reporting trip to see how Latino voters were faring as the presidential election approached was as good a reason as any.
And now I had another question: Why would anyone want to stay in a place so many had left?
The 1970 U.S. census recorded Clifton’s population as 5,079. A crippling strike in the early 1980s led to the decertification of the miners union and spurred an exodus. By 2002, only about 2,600 people remained, according to Greenlee County statistics.
One of those who left was Janeene Carrillo.
“Growing up here was amazing,” she told me as we enjoyed breakfast at the Little Frisco, a newish diner in town. (Random L.A. connection: She’s related to the Arechigas, one of the last families evicted from Chavez Ravine). “It was probably the best childhood any kid could have. Because you’re safe. Everyone knows everyone.”
But other than the mines, opportunities were limited. After graduating high school in the late 1990s, she headed to Phoenix to study acting.
Janeene Carrillo, councilmember for the town of Clifton, Ariz., on a bridge overlooking the San Francisco River. The 45-year-old wants to bring businesses to the mining town in anticipation of Clifton’s main source of employment, the nearby Morenci copper mine, shutting down in the future.
(Gustavo Arellano / Los Angeles Times)
Family matters brought her back home in 2012, and she began thinking about how to make Clifton a place where people wanted to stay.
Today, she is a member of the town council, and Clifton is staging a modest comeback. The most recent census pegged the population at nearly 4,000. The median household income is $78,862, fueled by a boom in mining jobs, while the cost of living has remained low.
“We’re getting people from New Mexico, from even the Midwest,” said Carrillo, 45, picking at an omelet. “I’ve seen people come from Mississippi, from Alabama. We’re a work in progress.”
Now a security guard for Freeport-McMoRan, she is the third generation of her family to work at the mine. Wearing a cream-colored sports coat, Carrillo brushed her perfectly coiffed, jet black hair out of her eyes while we talked. Her urban polish was a contrast to the stereotypical copper country getup of checkered shirt, western-style belt buckle, bolo tie and Stetson hat.
Once [Donald] Trump came around, I decided that’s not the Republican that I am.
— Janeene Carrillo
In Phoenix, Carrillo ditched acting after the double gut punch of a cousin’s murder and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks made her feel that government was too lax on “bad guys.” She volunteered for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department and helped to process passports, realizing that “a lot of people need a voice because they don’t have it.”
The divisions that surfaced in the 2016 election made her ditch the GOP, become an independent and get involved in politics.
“Once [Donald] Trump came around, I decided that’s not the Republican that I am,” said Carrillo, who is “into hearing both sides.”
She voted for Joe Biden in 2020 and plans to vote for Kamala Harris this year out of distaste for Trump’s “disrespect” toward military veterans.
“And I really got passionate about the right and the wrong, and how some [politicians] can get away with things, especially when running for president, you know?” she said.
Carrillo worked as a town clerk to learn the mechanics of local government, then unsuccessfully applied for an open council seat in 2021. The following year, she beat an incumbent.
“We needed something different — someone new, someone younger,” Carrillo responded when I asked why she won. “I felt like I’m looking at Clifton, like I’m on new ground. Because I never lived here as an adult, I can see what’s wrong, what’s broken. I can see the faults. I can see the patterns and what Clifton needs.”
What does her hometown need?
“There’s always talk about how the mine is probably only going to be working until maybe 2045,” she said. “And I don’t want Clifton to be dependent on the mine.”
She mentioned bringing in national chains — an Old Navy, a Target, even a Boston Market — so people don’t have to drive to Safford or beyond for necessities, and a truck stop to take advantage of the traffic that passes through. The jobs and revenue would allow Clifton to offer more municipal services, such as youth sports.
The problem, she said, is that no one outside Clifton pays attention to it.
In Clifton, Ariz., the median household income is $78,862, fueled by a boom in mining jobs, while the cost of living has remained low. The open–pit copper mine in nearby Morenci, shown in 2004, is a major employer.
(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)
“On the news, when they’re doing the weather, they totally ignore us,” she said, frowning. “All they say is, ‘Oh, precipitation is moving to the east,’ but they don’t say the name. And I’m like, ‘Why don’t they say our name?’”
This erasure also applies to Clifton’s miners, I pointed out. The archetypal American miner nowadays is from Appalachia — Trump rallied with them in West Virginia. The Biden administration, including Harris as vice president, promised to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in moribund coal towns. This year, it announced that Freeport-McMoRan would receive up to $80 million to invest in clean energy to operate the Morenci mine — but none of the money would go directly to towns such as Clifton.
“Latinos have given so much to the mining industry because of the struggles that they have to … overcome,” Carrillo said, describing how Mexicans in the area were once buried apart from whites, and housing segregation existed right up to the 1970s.
“We need our stories told,” she continued. “We need Americans to know what we’ve accomplished — we help build the United States.”
Does discrimination still exist in Clifton? The town is 54% Latino and 38% white.
“Everyone is married with everyone nowadays, and that’s great,” she said with a grin. I looked around Little Frisco, and Carrillo was right. Mixed race couples ate breakfast with their children in tow.
I said I was surprised to not see any presidential campaign posters in town, amid a plethora of local ones.
In 2020, Trump won two-thirds of the vote in Greenlee County while losing Arizona in a squeaker he falsely maintains was stolen. But on the drive to Clifton, I had seen few signs of the county’s red heart — or of national politics at all.
“No one wants to get into feuds,” Carrillo said. “Because you have to be seeing everybody — you know, much more than what you would in the city. I think everyone’s really careful on how they display who they’re voting for.”
Carrillo attributed the local support for Trump — especially among Latinos — to the overtures he has made to the mining industry.
But she thinks the Biden administration’s investment in the Morenci mine may help Harris make inroads in Greenlee County this year.
“They’re seeking a candidate who supports” the hometown’s livelihood, Carrillo said.
A billboard promoting the Greenlee County Democratic Party near the unincorporated community of Three Way, Ariz. In 2020, Donald Trump won two-thirds of the vote in Greenlee County while losing Arizona.
(Gustavo Arellano / Los Angeles Times)
After taking some photos at a historic bridge spanning the San Francisco River, we drove up U.S. Route 191 to Metcalf, where my grandmother was born. Beyond a gate was a hill as tall as a high-rise building — turned into a dump for the Morenci mine in the 1930s. Somewhere underneath the detritus was the town, buried and abandoned.
I texted a photo to some of my cousins with the note, “Somos de aquí.”
We’re from here.
Suddenly, a Greenlee County sheriff’s vehicle made a U-turn, flashed its lights and drove directly toward us.
“Everything all right here?” Deputy Daniel Medina asked as he got out of his car. “There was a crash here recently, so I want to make sure you guys were OK.”
The name sounded familiar.
“Hey, you’re running for sheriff — I saw your signs!” I exclaimed, identifying myself as a reporter.
He smiled, greeted Carrillo, excused himself and drove off.
I soon left Clifton as well, taking winding back roads toward my next stop. Signs for Medina and his opponents were everywhere. For Harris or Trump?
None.
Politics
Hochul endorses legislation to allow New Yorkers to sue ICE agents: ‘Power does not justify abuse’
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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is supporting legislation that would allow state residents to sue ICE agents for violating their constitutional rights.
The governor said on Tuesday during her State of the State address that she wants to allow New Yorkers to “hold ICE agents accountable in court when they act outside the scope of their duties.”
“This doesn’t interfere with lawful enforcement or public safety,” Hochul said. “It simply affirms a core truth: Power does not justify abuse. And if someone’s constitutional rights are violated here in the state of New York, I say they deserve their day in court.”
Last year, New York State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblymember Micah Lasher proposed measures to allow private citizens to file lawsuits against federal officials who violate their constitutional rights.
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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is backing legislation that would allow state residents to sue ICE agents for violating their constitutional rights. (Julia Nikhinson/AP Photo)
Lasher’s version cites Title 42, Section 1983 of the U.S. Code, which allows people to sue state and local officials for violating their rights. The proposal highlights that New York does not have a law in place allowing citizens to sue federal officials.
“Every day, ICE is terrorizing our communities & violating our civil rights. We must be able to hold them accountable,” Lasher, who is running for Congress, wrote on X, adding that he is glad Hochul is taking up his legislation.
Multiple states, including California, Massachusetts and New Jersey, have implemented similar laws allowing residents to sue federal officials.
Hochul also proposed other immigration guardrails, including a measure to require judicial warrants before ICE can conduct raids in sensitive locations like schools, churches and hospitals.
People march during a protest after the killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Getty Images)
Earlier this year, the Trump administration reversed a Biden administration policy barring immigration arrests in these sensitive locations.
The governor also announced that New York “will not allow the use of state resources to assist in federal immigration raids on people who have not committed serious crimes.”
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin alleged in a statement to The Hill that Hochul “continues to smear law enforcement who are simply enforcing the rule of law and are putting their lives on the line to remove violent criminals from New York.”
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Renee Nicole Good, a U.S. citizen, was fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minnesota. (Getty Images)
McLaughlin also argued that there has been an increase in threats against federal law enforcement officers who she purports have shown “incredible restraint and professionalism in exhausting all options before any kind of non-lethal force is used.”
This debate has intensified after a recent incident in Minneapoliss, where Renee Nicole Good, a U.S. citizen, was fatally shot by an ICE agent during an enforcement action. Protests followed in multiple cities, and Democrats and local residents have condemned the shooting and urged charges against the agent.
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The Trump administration and Republican lawmakers have defended the incident by arguing that it was a justified shooting.
Officials are also investigating a second ICE-involved shooting that happened in Minneapolis on Wednesday, as the mayor continues to demand that the agency leave the city and state.
A group of Los Angeles labor unions is proposing a ballot measure they say would combat income inequality in the city by raising taxes on companies whose chief executive officers make at least 50 times more than their median-paid employee.
The so-called Overpaid CEO Tax initiative was announced Wednesday at a rally outside Elon Musk’s Tesla Diner in West Hollywood, and featured union workers holding signs that read “Taxing greed to pay for what we need,” and a cartoon cutout of a boss carrying money bags and puffing a fat cigar.
“It’s high time the rich paid more taxes,” said Kurt Petersen, the co-president of Unite Here Local 11, which represents airport and hotel employees.
Sister Diane Smith of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice joins the Fair Games Coalition at a rally in West Hollywood on Wednesday.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
The proposal is sponsored by the Fair Games Coalition, a collection of labor groups that includes the Los Angeles teachers union, and comes on the heels of a statewide ballot proposal for a one-time 5% wealth tax on California billionaires that would raise money for healthcare for the most vulnerable.
Revenues raised by the CEO tax would be earmarked for specific purposes and not go directly to the city’s general fund.
According to proponents, 70% would go to the Working Families Housing Fund; 20% would go to the Street and Sidewalk Repairs Programs and 5% would go both to the After-School Programs Fund and the Fresh Food Access Fund.
In order to place the measure on the November ballot, supporters must collect 140,000 signatures in the next 120 days.
Critics say the proposal is misguided and would drive business away from the city.
“It would encourage companies that have minimal contact and business in Los Angeles to completely pull out,” said Stuart Waldman, head of the Valley Industry & Commerce Assn. “You’ll never see another hotel built in Los Angeles. It’s just one more thing that will drive business away.”
He added that $350 million for affordable housing would create about 350 units of affordable housing per year, which would not do much to affect the city’s housing crisis.
“That does nothing to help people. But on the contrary, that tax would do more to hurt people by pushing businesses out of Los Angeles and pushing jobs out of Los Angeles,” he said.
United Teachers-Los Angeles President Cecily Myart-Cruz said teachers support the proposal because it would not only raise money for after-school programs, but also help teachers find housing in L.A.
“They can’t live where we teach, because the prices are out of reach,” Myart-Cruz said.
Supporters argue that the tax will not chase businesses out of Los Angeles.
Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, speaks in favor of a measure that would increase taxes on companies whose chief executive officers make at least 50 times more than their median paid employee.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
“Sure if they want to leave the second largest market in the country, go for it. But no one’s leaving that,” Petersen said.
The ordinance, if passed by voters, would impose an additional tax of up to 10 times the company’s regular business tax, based on the pay difference between the highest-paid employee at the company and the lowest, the initiative said.
According to the coalition, the current city business tax is between 0.1% and 0.425% of gross receipts.
If a top manager at a company makes between 50 and 100 times the median employee, the company will pay an “Overpaid CEO tax” equal to the business tax otherwise paid by the company. If the top manager makes greater than 500 times the median employee, the business would be required to pay an additional tax of 10 times the business tax otherwise owed.
“The bigger the gap, the higher the tax,” Petersen said.
Politics
Republicans light cigars, cigarettes on burning photos of Khamenei to show support for Iranian protesters
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Republican lawmakers are jumping on a social media trend to show their support for the anti-regime protesters in Iran.
Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., and Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., posted photos of themselves using burning photos of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to light up a cigarette and a cigar respectively. Both lawmakers used the caption “Smoke ’em if you got ’em.”
The lawmaker’s images mirror a social media trend in which people are using burning photos of Khamenei to light cigarettes and cigars. The trend emerged as the people of Iran hold increasingly intense protests against the Islamic regime. The movement against the regime has seen increasing support from abroad as world leaders back the people of Iran.
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People gather during a protest on Jan. 8, 2026, in Tehran, Iran. (Anonymous/Getty Images)
Khamenei’s regime has started to crack down on protests and even instituted a sweeping internet blackout to try to quell the unrest. Some have posited that the internet blackout was also meant to impede the spreading of information about and visuals of abuses committed against protesters by regime-backed forces.
Recently, exiled Iranian crown prince Reza Pahlavi has publicly urged President Donald Trump and the U.S. to back protesters in Iran as they fight the decades-old regime.
Sheehy told Fox News Digital that he takes the issue personally, saying that Iran has participated in the torturing, kidnapping and killing of Americans across the globe, “including friends of mine.”
“The Iranian regime are a bunch of murderous b——- who have been chanting ‘death to America’ for the past 46 years. They have backed up this chant by kidnapping, torturing, and killing thousands of Americans all over the world, including friends of mine. For me, it’s personal; it’s time to take out the trash,” Sheehy said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital via email.
Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., showed his solidarity with the people of Iran by hopping on a social media trend in which she used a burning photo of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to light a cigarette. (Courtesy of Sen. Tim Sheehy’s Office)
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The senator also expressed his solidarity with the people of Iran and encouraged them to keep fighting the regime.
“To the Iranian people — we applaud your courage, keep fighting, and know we fully support your brave efforts to topple this evil regime,” he added.
Tenney’s office also spoke with Fox News Digital about the congresswoman’s post, praising the bravery of the people of Iran for standing up to the regime. Additionally, Tenney’s office expressed the congresswoman’s solidarity with the Iranian people.
“The bravery of the Iranian people in the face of decades of oppression by a brutal, extremist regime is extraordinary. Men and women across Iran are risking their lives to stand up to authoritarian mullahs who have denied them basic freedoms for generations,” Tenney’s office said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., showed her solidarity with the people of Iran by hopping on a social media trend in which she used a burning photo of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to light a cigar. (Courtesy of Rep. Claudia Tenney’s Office)
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“The congresswoman stands firmly with the Iranian people and their demand for dignity and self-determination, and believes their courage must be recognized and amplified. Today, the Iranian people finally have an ally in the White House, President Trump, who has made clear that the United States stands with those fighting for freedom against tyranny,” Tenney’s office added.
Trump has been vocal about his support for the people of Iran and has warned that the U.S. would be ready to step in if the regime used violence against protesters.
“Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before,” the president wrote in a Truth Social post on Jan. 10. “The USA stands ready to help!!!”
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