Birthday stories

I listen to people’s stories with a constant filter in place, tossing most of them aside but storing away a few. Because some of the stories are bumps on the surface of a much bigger thing building underneath.

One such story came from a realtor in Carlsbad named Pat who attended an immigration court hearing for a Mexican man who has worked for him sometimes and become a friend over the years.

Pat happened to show up when U.S. Senator Alex Padilla was visiting the detention center. The warden was keeping the senator waiting.

Although he didn’t know Padilla by sight, Pat told me he suspected a degree of political power because the aide had “the nicest pantsuit I’ve ever seen.”

The judge at the immigration hearing was on loan from the district court. The lawyer for a Russian immigrant — who was in detention — set out the status of his client’s asylum case where all hearings had been attended and all needed paperwork had been timely filed.

When the prosecutor recommended no bond, the judge cupped his face in his hands and said with some exasperation, “It seems to me this man has done everything you asked him to do.” The judge said he planned to release him. The prosecutor answered, “no objection.”

I believe these exchanges are being played out in federal courtrooms all across the U.S. As part of reviewing new rulings from the federal court in Los Angeles, I see habeas grants running against ICE officials at the rate of roughly two to four a day.

As I write, the previous day there were two habeas grants with opinions running 11 and 17 pages.

“Time and time again, courts in this District have found claims like this one meritorious,” wrote Magistrate Mercheff in granting an Asian woman freedom from the Adelanto ICE prison.

“Freedom from imprisonment — from government custody,  detention, or other forms of physical restraint — lies at the heart of the liberty the Due Process Clause protects."

In a second habeas grant involving a Guatemalan held in Adelanto since March, Magistrate Roberts wrote, “Even in their Answer filed six weeks after they re-detained Petitioner, Respondents proffer no justification — no change in circumstances — for why they revoked Petitioner’s release status and re-detained him.”

In summarizing the facts, he wrote, “At no point has Petitioner been provided an opportunity to contest his re-detention before a neutral decision maker to determine whether detention is necessary to prevent flight risk or danger.”

Grinding gears to switch to another story I heard and stored away, I went to get an overdue haircut at the end of the day yesterday. My hairdresser told me a story that affects an entirely different aspect of life in our nation in these times.

She said many of her clients, who are mostly women, were getting laid off because their work was overtaken by software using artificial intelligence.

“A lot or a few,” I asked.

She thought for a moment, “Not a lot but not a few.”

As a former hairdresser in Hollywood, she charges plenty for her haircuts, coloration and head massages. So I asked how they can afford her if they just lost their jobs.

“It makes them feel better,” she said. A new look gives them some respite from all their troubles.

Our IT director just came back from a conference on AI and reported one overall message from the conference panelists: intelligent software will not be free. It will often cost more than an employee.

But it makes no mistakes and it works all day and all night on all days.

It’s maybe true that I am skeptical of hype by my nature and my profession as a journalist. So the idea that machines taking away jobs will lead to more and better jobs is not an idea I’m buying.

On this Fourth of July, fundamental aspects of life in America are under siege.