“Sonoma County is ground zero for counter-Trump,” Sonoma State University political science Professor David McCuan proclaimed at the biannual “Blue-Green Eggs & Ham” post-election wrap-up that took place last Saturday at Santa Rosa’s Odd Fellows Hall. McCuan added, “We’re in the middle of a big shift that will literally change the face of the electorate and the whole political picture.”

Organizers for the event borrowed the name from the Dr. Seuss book, Green Eggs and Ham. The true-blue standing-room-only crowd included environmentalists, trade unionists and progressives, all proud of Democratic Party victories last November, and itching to take on Trump in 2020. No one complained that the breakfast meeting didn’t include eggs or ham.

Unlike California’s up-and-coming demographic, which is young and ethnically diverse, the Odd Fellows crowd was mostly white and over the age of 50, with a smattering of students and people of color. As several speakers noted, Sonoma County has grown whiter, wealthier and older ever since the wildfires of October 2017.

On the second of two panels, McCuan rubbed shoulders with Maddy Hirshfield, the political director of the North Bay Labor Council (NBLC), and Daisy Pistey-Lyhne, executive director of Sonoma County Conservation Action (SCCA).

Pistey-Lyhne looked back at the 2018 campaign and noted that, “Progressive had spectacular wins.” Then, she peered into the future and added, “We don’t have enough money to be consistently successful. That takes people power.”

That kind of power helped elect more Latinas to public office in Sonoma County than ever before, including Windsor councilwoman Esther Lemus, Santa Rosa councilwoman Victoria Fleming and Cloverdale councilwoman Marta Cruz. Lemus said, “I ran because I felt that the voices of minorities and women, especially working mothers, were absent from the political process.”

The event began with the big politicos: Eco-focused U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman and Blue Dog centrist Mike Thompson; State Sen. Mike McGuire, the freshly-minted assistant Senate majority leader; and Assemblyman Jim Wood. “Nobody did more or better than North Coast people last fall,” the conservative Democrat Thompson said. “In Orange County, I ran into Sonoma County people canvassing for Democrats down there. We pushed the wheel forward and we’re just getting going.” Numerous GOP districts in Orange County flipped blue this year.

Thompson was recently out-front and center as Nancy Pelosi’s point-person on renewed Democratic efforts on gun control.

McGuire sounded a defiantly anti-Trumpian note. “We’re standing up for California values, fighting for health care for all, and protecting the DACA students,” he said. Jim Wood boasted that there were more women now in the California State Assembly than ever before and insisted that “some Republican members of Congress have to go,” a list which would likely include Kevin McCarthy and Devin Nunes. He added, “Let’s make California the bluest state in the world.”

Let’s pay our blue state comrades a living wage, added Greg Sarris, the Tribal Chair of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. He gave the keynote address and told his popular carrot story. “There are three reasons to grow carrots,” he said. “One, to make money, two, to feed people and three, to share a vision, not just to make money and feed people, but to take care of the workers so that they can afford to eat.” He stressed that the unionized Graton Casino offers a model for the county to follow when it comes to wage equity.

“We pay employees $15 an hour and everyone gets full medical coverage through Kaiser,” he said. A recent report, The State of Working Sonoma, prepared by Jesús Guzmán for North Bay Jobs and Justice, shows that “Forty percent of Latinos belong to a family that works and lives in poverty,” and that “The rent-to-income gap has widened as household incomes have increased by only nine percent while rents have increased a whopping 24 percent from 2000 to 2016.”

The panelists agreed that local campaigning was more toxic than ever before in a divided country—and county? Petaluma mayor Teresa Barrett, who also serves on Bay Area Air Quality Management District talked about how nearly $80,000 in oil-industry money was poured into the race, though the effort backfired, she said. “People saw through it.” Sonoma Mayor Rachel Hundley recounted her fight against a barrage of “anonymous hate-mail” and a bogus website that called her a slut. McCuan offered his campaign wisdom for Democrats in 2020. “Don’t talk about Democracy,” he said. “That’s too abstract. Talk about corruption and greed.”

The nation is currently enduring a lengthy government shutdown because Congress won’t give Donald Trump $5.7 billion for a border wall he said that Mexico would pay for.

But the supposed border crisis that requires a new wall is based on Trump mythology—a series of “alternative facts” that he and his acolytes continuously put forth. Many of these are amplified by media outlets and talk radio such that large numbers of Americans are misled about the state of the border and immigrants who pass through it.

Why should we in the North Bay be so concerned about Trump’s shenanigans on the border?

There is a humanitarian crisis at the Mexican border—although not one that a wall will solve. Thousands are being held by Customs and Border Protection in inhumane conditions at border facilities. Others are living in squalor at camps on the Mexican side of the border, awaiting asylum processing. Many of these refugees are from regions of Mexico and Central America with large populations in the North Bay. Many have close family in Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties and end up settling here.

Our country has handled refugee crises before. Thousands of European refugees settled here after World War II. In the 1980s, we opened our door to Cubans, Eastern Europeans and others fleeing communism. As before, we ought to work on an orderly and humane manner for handling their claims of persecution—a solution more worthy of a nation of immigrants than an expensive and ineffective wall.

It’s worth examining some of the false myths surrounding the wall debate, so we can all understand better what sort of crisis we have on the border and whether a wall will help at all:

Myth #1: Illegal immigration across our southern border is
out of control

One of the oft-repeated myths is that illegal immigration through the U.S.-Mexican border has been rising and now is higher than ever. Actually, there has been a net drop in undocumented immigration from Mexico over the last 10 years; the overwhelming majority of those trying to cross illegally are now caught and subject to expedited deportation. Many more undocumented immigrants have been deported over the last decade than ever before. In truth, half of the undocumented immigrants here are visa overstays, usually from Europe or Asia.

Myth #2: Asylum seekers all come illegally

In fact, a large portion of the refugees at our southern border are entering the United States legally, seeking asylum under the Refugee Act of 1980. The Trump administration is trying to cut off these legal paths to asylum. But the truth is that most of these families at the southern border—including the caravans of asylum seekers Trump has condemned—are actually following our own immigration laws and procedures.

Myth #3: Many of those coming across the border are criminals and terrorists

Most of those seeking asylum are from parts of Mexico or Central America ravaged by violence at the hands of criminal cartels or gangs. Extortion, kidnapping and murder are commonplace there. Virtually all of the asylum seekers I’ve met reported that their families were targets of this violence and were threatened with more violence if they stayed in their communities.

Department of Homeland Security officials have admitted there has never been any evidence of terrorists entering our southern border, and the claims that gang members proliferate among those seeking asylum is completely unsupported by fact.

Myth #4: These immigrants disappear once allowed in
the United States

All applicants for asylum go through an interview process at the border to determine if they have a “credible fear of persecution” in their home country. Those who fail these interviews are deported immediately.

Those found to have a credible fear of persecution still have to wear an electronic monitor in order to get released. Later, they have a trial before an immigration judge and must prove they have a “well-founded fear of persecution based on religion, race, nationality, political opinion or social group.” If they fail to do so, they are deported.

Trump has falsely claimed only 10 percent show up for their hearings. In fact, the overwhelming majority who file asylum claims appear in court and a substantial number have proven their eligibility for asylum.

Myth #5: Undocumented immigrants get welfare and government aid

Despite repeated claims to the contrary by Trump, undocumented immigrants do not qualify for welfare, food stamps, Medicaid or virtually any other form of government assistance.