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SoCal Connected

Immigration 101: Enforcement by the Numbers

Immigration enforcement has taken different forms in the past, but the United States has never spent so much money on it as it does today.

Since 1986, America has spent about 263 billion dollars in agents, technology and detention. Two of the federal agencies involved - Immigration Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and Customs Border Patrol- or CBP.

They cost nearly 20 billion dollars a year to run. that’s more than the combined budgets of the FBI, DEA, Secret Service, Us Marshals and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

From 2003 to 2016, the number of Border Patrol agents has nearly doubled, and ICE agents have nearly tripled, bringing the total number of enforcement personnel to 50,000.

More manpower and bigger budgets, combined with tougher laws since 1996 and improvements in the economy south of the border, have lessened the flow of unauthorized immigrants.

And even though Border apprehensions are at 40-year lows, the Trump administration wants to build a 2000 mile wall along the southern border. The price tag? Seventy billion dollars.

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Season 10 Episode 1108

The Fight to Know

In 2019, California, one of the nation’s most secretive states when it comes to police files, put SB1421 into effect. But a year into the new transparency law, journalists and the public are realizing that the law may not be as transparent as expected.

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Season 10 Episode 1107

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Season 10 Episode 1106

Cannabis Country

State and local regulators are overwhelmed and outgunned when it comes to closing down California’s poisonous pot pipeline.

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Season 10 Episode 1105

Under Pressure

Parents are willing to spend thousands to get the competitive edge in the college admissions process, but at what cost? Socal Connected takes a revealing look at the high stakes world of the for-profit education consultant business.

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Season 10 Episode 1104

Born to Run

Socal Connected looks at what happened to LA Jets’ Obea Moore and the current state of youth track and field today.

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Season 10 Episode 1103

Access Denied

An investigation reveals how the state and many cities have let developers get away for decades with not paying their fair share when they replace affordable lodging with luxury hotels up and down California’s coast.

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Season 10 Episode 1102

Who Killed Josiah?

A Humboldt town is polarized over allegations of racism and police incompetence surrounding the death of college student Josiah Lawson.

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Season 10 Episode 1101

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As California deals with the fallout of a global waste crisis, plastic manufacturers continue to spread misleading information about recycling, while spending big on lobbying efforts to keep their products on the shelves.

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Season 9 Episode 1010

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For decades Los Angeles has lived in the shadows of New York and Chicago when it comes to the jazz, but that's now changing. LA's jazz scene is on the upswing. Meet the people, places and sounds that are putting LA jazz back on the map.

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Season 9 Episode 1009

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Chopped down trees, unspent money, building homes thirty feet from the freeway: Is the city of Los Angeles falling down on the job when it comes to certain environmental policies? Socal Connected investigates.