California Today: The Long Goodbye: A California Couple Self-Deports to Mexico

February 5, 2026, 6:31 a.m. Pacific time

Today’s Top Story

The Long Goodbye: A California Couple Self-Deports to Mexico

Enrique Castillejos and his wife, Maria Elena Hernandez, raised a family in California. But they were undocumented immigrants, and after President Trump’s crackdown began, they decided to return to Mexico.

The Bay Area Is Skeptical That ICE Won’t Conduct a Super Bowl Surge

Federal officials said ICE would not conduct enforcement raids in the region this week. But leaders in the San Francisco Bay Area have passed “anti-ICE” ordinances, and activists have planned rapid response efforts nonetheless.

People in This San Francisco Suburb Would Like the Earth to Just Stop Shaking, Please

San Ramon, Calif., has been rattled by dozens of small earthquakes in recent months. Even in a region used to regular shaking, it’s been a lot.

Supreme Court Clears Way for California Voting Map

The state’s Republican Party had asked the justices to step in and block the new congressional maps, which give an advantage to Democrats, before the midterms.

How the Rams’s Matthew Stafford Became an MVP Finalist in His Age-37 Season

On Thursday night, Stafford will find out whether he’ll win his first MVP award at the NFL Honors ceremony.

University of Southern California Names a Lawyer as Its New President

The president, Beong-Soo Kim, had served on an interim basis and already faced pressure from the Trump administration to join a higher education compact to follow a set of conservative ideas. He refused.

State Fiscal Chiefs Protest Federal Immigration Chaos

Sixteen elected treasury officials, all Democrats, wrote to President Trump to say ICE crackdowns are bad for business and tax revenues: “People must feel safe to go to work.”