Rumors of Immigrant Bus Used to Support Shasta County Resolution on “Noncitizen Migrants”
The Board passed the resolution which includes an agreement not to accept state or federal funds for immigrants, including asylum seekers.
A significant part of Shasta County’s April 23 Board of Supervisors meeting centered on the issue of control of America’s southern border and alleged related “impacts on Shasta County.”
Board members passed a resolution outlining how they hope to respond to the “abandonment of asylum seekers and noncitizen migrants” in Shasta County.
Chair Kevin Crye and Supervisors Chris Kelstrom and Patrick Jones voted for the resolution. Tim Garman abstained saying he wanted more information, and Mary Rickert was absent for medical reasons.
The Board’s new resolution attempts to draw a strong connection between immigrants, including asylum seekers, and crime. Issues such as illicit drug use and human trafficking are connected with the border, the resolution says, and threaten Shasta County residents’ health and safety.
Stating that Shasta County doesn’t have the resources to provide for the needs of “asylum seekers and noncitizen migrants,” the document emphasizes that the county will not take federal or state funds to help such individuals, other than to provide them connections and transportation to areas outside of the county.
Crye called the resolution “compassionate,” saying the county should focus its resources on its own community members, including the homeless.
A number of community members spoke up against the resolution, including representatives of the American Association of University Women and Shasta County Citizens Advocating Respect. Several individuals who have worked extensively with asylum seekers and immigrants also spoke up.
One of them, Reverend Megan Owens, is the pastor of Pilgrim Congregational Church. Citing her personal experience working with immigrants at the border, she told board members that the process described by Johnson during his presentation sounded like a legal means by which immigrants can seek asylum, or refuge.
“If we say illegal long enough,” she said, “we might believe it. But asylum cannot be illegal.”
“The term ‘noncitizen migrant’ is a non-term,” she said, directly addressing the unusual language of the Board’s resolution which did not distinguish between legal and illegal immigration.
“It is a made-up term,” Owens continued. “And it could pertain to anybody in this county who comes from somewhere outside this county, and who’s not a citizen of the United States.”
Before the vote, Shasta County Sheriff Michael Johnson provided the board with a presentation about issues he says he learned about during a November 2023 training at the border with the California Sheriff’s Association.
Johnson’s twenty-minute presentation included almost no information about impacts on Shasta County, other than a presentation slide marked with an arrow from the San Diego area to Redding, and the words “impacts on Shasta County.”
“So here’s what it boils down to folks,” Johnson said, pointing to the slide. “We have this region down here in California, where there’s a lot of illegal immigration. There are illegal immigrants being shipped right here into Shasta County. Whether you want to believe it or not, it is happening.”
He did not provide any evidence to back this claim.
Discussion prior to the vote included a report from Crye and Jones, who said they had met a bus which arrived near the Redding SaveMart on April 13, and “interviewed” one individual who remained in the area longer than the others.
“A citizen contacted me (about the bus) and I went down there,” Jones said, explaining that the man spoke Spanish and said he was from Mexico “but he didn’t look Mexican to me.”
“I don’t know if they’re honest or not,” Jones continued, seeming to question the man’s claim of nationality. “All I know is that a lot of people are getting off of a bus. They don’t speak English. They’re moving quickly and they’re looking confused. Obviously, they know they’re not supposed to be here.”
As to whether the bus actually dropped off any immigrants, Johnson said he didn’t know, but he was “looking into” who had chartered it.
That anecdotal report was the only information provided in an attempt to back Sheriff Michael Johnson’s claim that immigrants from the southern border are being brought to Shasta County.
During a break in the board meeting, Shasta Scout asked Crye whether he felt there was real evidence to back the Sheriff’s claim that immigrants are actively being brought here.
Crye responded, “You saw all this stuff (about the bus) on Facebook, right?”
The rumored immigrant bus bears striking similarities to rumors of an “antifa bus” that were spread by community members shortly before local protests in response to George Floyd’s murder.
A photo of the alleged “antifa bus” shared on social media in at that time, triggered both ground and air response by the California Highway Patrol across California’s northern region. Subsequent document requests by Property of the People and a follow up investigation by The Guardian, showed it was all a myth.
You can find the full wording of the resolution, here.
Have questions, concerns, or comments you’d like to share with us directly? Reach out: editor@shastascout.org.
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If you’re interested, this is a podcast describing an Antifa bus paranoia event that occurred in another state. Locals in fear of “the others” and in thrall of the rumor mill:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0h248k2
Jon, buddy! I’m not sure how to respond to your nonsensical unrelated rant that has nothing to do with any point I’m making. Have you been drinking again?
Pal- The county BOS doesn’t make or enforce laws about immigration. They are grasping at straws making a pointless statement that holds no teeth in reality, but probably gave the 3 of them semi-boners.
Jon, its ignorant to assume all brown people on busses are here illegally to rape and pillage your village. Its also downright delusional.
Furthermore, there’s plenty of homegrown rapists and pillagers born and bred right here in this community that should be prosecuted and put away for their crimes. Lots of old white boys abusing their wives and children, engaging in incest, and funding drug habits for their side pieces. Let’s focus on what’s real and what’s happening under our noses. Let’s respond to 911 calls right here at home, sheriff.
Also, you live in California, pal. If you’re so concerned about Mexicans entering the Southern border, move north! Or perhaps you can propose some sort of number system the BOS can tattoo on the arms of brown folks, maybe a yellow star on their lapels would do to tell the legal ones from the illegals.
#ANTIFA.BUS +!+
Jon-Not sure if you saw the most recent Voter registration statistics available on the elections website but Shasta County is only 51% republican. Times are changing and we understand change can be hard for some, but it is necessary for growth. As another commentor mentioned, I too voted for Sheriff Johnson and am extremely disappointed in his xenophobic one-sided presentation, but I have come to expect nothing less from this disastrous Board.
Jon… Just to help you out with your math…
Almost 25,000 Democrats are registered to vote in Shasta County….22% (not 20%)
Almost 58,000 Republicans are registered to vote in Shasta County…. 51% (not 80%)
But, wait… We do live in the State of California (not the State of Jefferson)
So… It gets better…. that’s 47% Democrats and 24% Republicans.
Do you really think asylum seekers, people who are seeking refuge from violence in their own country, are going to come to a predominantly Red County like Shasta County that boasts of an illegal militia and Constitutional Sheriff and flaunts gun laws? Really? Shasta County? A safe haven? I don’t even feel safe here.
Crye, Jones, and Johnson state there are bus loads of illegal immigrants being dropped off in Shasta County without showing proof. As one writer states, “in the dead of night” again without showing proof.
Apparently Crye relies on Facebook to get his information. Johnson doesn’t say where he gets his. Jones gets his from someone who doesn’t speak his language. See evil, hear evil, speak evil. Which one is which?
Is there a problem at the border. Sure. Did we recently have a bipartisan plan to help fix it? Yes. Who stopped it. Mr. Trump.
As Trump has said all illegals are criminals, rapists and carrying drugs across the border. Really? California has always relied on immigrants to do the hard work.
I would ask Mr Johnson why we have unfettered drug growing and manufacturing right here in Shasta County. We have many problems here in our beautiful county that are home grown. Fix those and not the phantom arrow from San Diego. He’ll just blame the courts and the jail. Start looking at yourself.
Spreading hate, fear and lies. Do these three BOS members have nothing constructive to do with the time that they have been given to lead Shasta County? They have the ability to help the citizens of this county recover from the many traumas that we have faced and are currently facing. Yet they choose to do harm for personal gain. Those who are not fooled by this cannot ignore it. Please speak out in support of truth and compassion.
(A) Because there is both video and photographic evidence that illegal migrants have been shipped to several cities and states across the U.S., and (B) Shasta County is part of the United States, (C) therefore, there is nothing precluding that illegal migrants are likely being transported to our county.
This and why would our Sheriff lie? To make such a claim assumes motives which is pure conjecture. Occam’s razor would suggest that the simplest solution is likely the correct one: Our Sheriff is telling the truth.
This reasoning is so broad, Shannon, that it could provide evidence for almost anything.
It’s simple logic. It’s also a factual truth that illegal migrants have been shipped by bus and plane to various communities throughout the United States — so why is it implausible that it could happen here?
You’re taking plausible and making it fact. Would you make that logic in all arguments?
No, Jerry. Read again what I said…”nothing precluding that illegal migrants are likely being transported to our county”. Nothing destroys logical thinking like assumptive reading of a text. *Note the word ‘likely’.
The logical argument is that this is already happening across the nation and why would our Sheriff lie about such a serious matter?
Prove it
Redding is about as likely to be the target for dumping asylum seekers as Mar A Lago. The Governors of Texas and Florida are very particular where they send those buses, and Shasta County is not on the list.
Recovering Republican,
I’ve been reading your rants. and they are Democrat rants on drugs.
I Recommend you go back to rehab and become a recovering Democrat.
“The boogie man is coming”..”The boogie man is coming “..SHAMEFUL That our sheriff makes a presentation with absolutely ZERO proof of his accusations. The other conspiracy terrorists on the board ate it up, like a fat kid eats pie!
When will this insanity end??
I fully expect a local or state-wide human rights association to strongly consider a lawsuit against the Shasta Co. BoS for this onerous resolution. At the beginning of the meeting they lauded a local individual and group for feeding the homeless/poor; and I assume anyone who’s present when the handout is provided. Do they check to see if they have an ID or Green Card ? And then moments later the BoS, except Mr Garman, turned the other eye and voted to consider all immigrants seeking asylum to be criminals. Does the term, Selected Hypocrisy, sound right for this one ?
I find it amusing that as soon as something is passed by local leaders that doesn’t fit the progressive agenda they are labeled “ remedial presenter, a racist and fear- mongering propagandist “. My opinion is that Shasta County( and all other counties) should take care and fix the issues that exist before championing other causes. I read an article today about a 6 month old infant receiving chemotherapy for a rare cancer. Family friends have started a go fund me to help the family afford treatment and care. It’s criminal that this isn’t being taken care of by our government who, by the way can send billions to fund wars but can’t help its own people.
That’s because healthcare is a for-profit industry instead of universal healthcare for all. And the bipartisan border fix most want is being squashed by one “Republican” who does not want his contender to get a win until November. Go figure!
What problem do you have with gun laws? This county should be a gun sanctuary! Once again, you’re probably not even from here.
I voted for Sheriff Johnson and truly regret that now. He’s outed himself as a remedial presenter, a racist, and fear-mongering propagandist. “Waa waaaaa I’m so scared the soccer team tour bus stopped on the I 5 corridor for snacks and it was filled with brown people! Waaaaa waaaa I couldn’t even understand what they were saying because it was totally different language waaaaaaa waaaaaaa!”
I cannot believe this is happening in 2024.
Grow up pal! This is Shasta County!! We are 80% Republican Conservative!! 30 million people have crossed our southern border illegally. An extremely small amount might be asylum seekers. The lost states they are to go to court for that. The law also states that they need to cross into this country legally. It also states that they must declare their asylum in the country, they are in before coming to this country. Once again, this news aggregate is totally devoid and ignorant of the constitutional laws of not only the state of California, but the United States! Before you gaslight people, please read the laws! I would not dare tell you to leave the county as that is not a very favorable thing and gets me in trouble. However, if there’s better places that suit your needs, I highly recommend them them.
So a bus load of people, who do not look like the Shasta County majority according to Jones and his supporter, makes a bathroom stop at SavMor so passengers can relieve themselves and stock up on snacks for their immediate journey out of here triggers our board to pass a worthless proclamation that, according to County Counsel, is unenforceable and therefore not worth the paper it’s written on? And before you claim 80% of Shasta County voters are registered Republicans you might want to visit ROV’s site to see the majority are not. Quit spreading disinformation. Jones would not have lost by a landslide and Crye escape a recall by a couple dozen votes if what you say was even close to the truth!
I’m not sure how to respond to your nonsensical unrelated rant that has nothing to do with any point I’m making.
The county BOS doesn’t make or enforce laws about immigration. They are grasping at straws making a pointless statement that holds no teeth in reality. It’s also ignorant to assume all brown people on busses are here illegally to rape and pillage your village.
Also, you live in California, pal. If you’re so concerned about Mexicans entering the Southern border, move north!
I’ve been here my entire life and my family goes back 4 generations in Shasta County. In fact, I know you and your family very well. Most of the old timers here can’t stand Patrick Jones and his band of wannabes.
Harry, your squeaky wheel will not be oiled on this one. Your wheel is completely broken about illegal aliens crossing our border.
Facts:
1) it’s against the law to cross over the border without a passport, Visa card, green card.
2) USA is nearly 35 trillion in debt. The country is trying to sustain itself. There’s no room for 20 to 30 million illegal immigrants.
3) Responsibility for USA is to take care our of citizens and our families.
4) Yelling “false” racism against a sheriff is not a fact, but a big fat bold lie.
The first to cry racism when citizens are discussing out of control immigration and asylum loses the argument and shows no respect for fellow citizens. Orderly and lawful immigration and asylum are what we should expect from our government and it has obviously failed us in the last 3+ years. I applaud the supervisors who are dealing with this before it becomes a problem thrust on the community. Sadly, border states had to bus people to big cities before anyone in the MSM press took notice.
I would like more facts too, Annelise, but they are hard to come by when the government ships people by bus, airplane etc in the dark of night, pretends no one will notice and clams up when confronted. The NGO’s that are accountable to no one have been scattering people(asylum seekers) all over the country. I would be surprised if none have arrived in Shasta County.
If not, I see this problem only getting worse before it gets better. So we should decide what we can and cannot do before the buses arrive.
A county board member or sheriff cannot remove rights from someone seeking legal asylum. They are impotent and have very little power to do anything at the county level. It’s merely a flex with no substantial evidence to back up claims, and zero power to enforce. The whole thing is an ignorant small di@k move.
They are especially hard to come by when Annelise refuses to seek them out or more importantly report on them.
Much like, in a court of law where the burden of proof lays on the prosecution/petitioner, the same can be said for the person making the statement. Either they back up their statement with the proof, or it cannot be considered factual. Get off the “Do your own research” cop-out and actually try to prove your point of view, if you even can.
Thank you Shasta Scout for reporting on this and bringing up the “antifa bus” although I remember their was a big fear of a Black Lives Matter bus. Rumors on that started in Idaho or Montana where a multiracial couple were camping and local residents were so aftraid of BLM that they felled a tree across to road to the campground so the family could not leave.
Sounds similar to Sheriff Johnson, Crye and Jones fear of migrant buses and of course Election’s Commisioner Bev Grey’s 20,000 voters that should be removed and over 30,000 inactive voters that should be canceled.”
Hopefully when Matt Plummer is on the BOS they can concentrate on real county problems such as the need for a larger jail so police don’t have to continue to arrest certain career criminatls several times or more each month. But it appears easier to regularly spend time passing resolutions that have no meaning, voting irregularities that have no basis in fact, gun laws that state law supercedes, antifa or BLM buses that don’t exist and now migrant buses that no one has any the basis in fact as Bev Gray’s voting irregularities claims.
Thank you, Shasta Scout, for covering this item. And especially a huge thank you to all the members of the community who spoke out against racism!
It is sad to see Sheriff Johnson pulled into the J.C.K. Cartel attack on Safe and Sane members of our county. Just as depressing is that Johnson’s presentation was not only completely biased but filled with lots of MAGA red meat based on unsubstantiated allegations, lots of misinformation, and typical dog whistles found in many white nationalist tropes. But, as Sheriff Johnson is a Constitutional Sheriff, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. It’s also sad to know that Jones, Crye, and Kelstorm will never give equal time to anyone who could show just how wrong Johnson is.
R-3 was exposed as just another MAGA toothless attack with no legal, or any other means of enforcement. We are used to that, being with all impotent, biased, illegal, and unenforceable MAGA J.C.K. malarky about Shasta County being a “Gun Sanctuary,” the so-called voter fraud of Dominion Voting Systems, and the pathetic joke called the Elections Commission, which has cost Shasta County Taxpayers MILLIONS of dollars and is trashing the reputation of Shasta County!
Will the MAGA – J.C.K. Cartel ever understand Shasta County will never be their S.O.J. or Greater State of Idaho? Well, maybe, maybe not. But as your report on the letter from The State of California demonstrated, the J.C.K. Cartel is under the magnifying glass of the Attorney General, and Secretary of State, and if the J.C.K. Cartel keeps it up, more laws like AB 969 will be created to keep their nonsense in check!
Hippy Dippy weatherman (aka CHRISTIAN GARDINIER) you got to quit making remarks about MAGA!. It has nothing to do with your illusion of republicans and conspiracy theories of racism.
It’s about common sense. Shasta County needs to take care of our existing local tax paying Citizens and their Children, Schools, Economy, Medical, Homeless, Addicts, Crime, Etc.
Hippy Dippy Weatherman! Try predicting the weather and not your vision of doom and gloom of the majority Shasta County citizens that have common sense.
Excuse me, last time I checked, everyone of the county council people are Republicans. Two of them are Chicken shits who don’t show up for votes. Conveniently abstain or conveniently absent. This is why we tried to replace them. Do your damn jobs whether it hurts or not that’s what you’ve been hired to do.! Sadly, these feckless leaders don’t want to go on record with what they know Is the right decision for this county.
Jon, I sat through the Sheriff’s presentation. It was devoid of evidence that immigrants are being bussed here. I asked Supervisor Kevin Crye, who said its hard to prove. I’m not sure why its my job to go further to seek out facts to back their resolution. Wouldn’t that be their job?
Thank you for your common sense!
This alt left news aggregate is trying to be a loud voice representing about 20% of the very noisy people in this county. You choose not to represent the 80% who do not want illegal immigrants in this county before we can even take care of our own citizens, this is called Tierney of the minority! That is Shasta scout
First of all I openly agree to provide Mr. Stadille a basic course in English writing and comprehension, and then maybe he can tell me what Tierney means ? Otherwise I found the Henny Penney-like 30 minute show at the April 23 BoS mtg to be just that…run and hide, here they come folks, get your pitchforks out and stand guard, Yikes ! BTW Mr. Jones, your former girlfriend Ms. Lucero speaks fluent Espanol, maybe she can tutor you so you can tell the difference between all ‘those Mexicans’.
Frank, spelling, and syntax are not an indication of intelligence or even education. I have read charts written by M.D.s that are unreadable. I think the point is that disparities and obstacles to education, such as lower economic levels, teacher shortages, huge funding inequalities, differences between school districts, and proximity to other cultures, are what’s at play here in Shasta County, especially after Prop 13 gutted education in a time many of us were in school.
America is dumbing down education! After all, who needs science, education about how diversity built this nation, or education about the political structure of Shasta County? After all, just like Supervisor Crye before he ran for office, half of our high school graduates don’t know what the board of supervisors is.
Yes, there are a few rather parochial and juvenile comments to be found here, but, what is more concerning is what people are saying about social-political issues, and legal issues as evidenced in some of the comments found here, that lack of understanding of social service funding and law.
Today in Shasta County, asylum seekers and non-citizen migrants are not “cheating” Shasta County citizens of any social services, (all paid for by the state of California by the way) or committing more crimes. In fact, asylum seekers and non-citizen migrants commit fewer crimes per capita, have been found to be very productive in the workforce, and the net economic input vs output of net difference is not due to the J.C.K. Cartel MAGA Racist Dog Whistles like, “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists,” that their racist social-political leader, Trump, disseminates for them.
In fact, many employers love Illegal immigrants, they have high rates of work, are paid much less, are more productive, often willing to work in unsafe and extremely low-paid conditions, yet they pay taxes, including income and payroll taxes. The reason for the input vs output GDP inequity is just like their less-educated and low-income U.S.-born counterparts, the tax payments don’t equal the “cost” they create. But it’s not just asylum seekers or immigrants, 70% of all US adult workers get “welfare” in health care and food stamps and are working full time. Next to none of this social service money comes out of the Shasta County general fund, but employers get a huge economic benefit from both populations. In fact, the Census Bureau, as well as 15 state agencies across 11 states, found that “millions” of full-time workers rely on government Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to make ends meet.
Everyone knows there is a huge problem on the border, we don’t need the J.C.K. Cartel or sheriff to state the obvious. But MAGA, at the order of Trump, just rejected the most comprehensive bipartisan border control law ever written in U.S. history, crafted by Republicans and Democrats alike, that was endorsed by the Chief of the Border Patrol Agency and the Border Control Union. Why? MAGA doesn’t want solutions, it wants and needs problems.
R-3 is completely gutless and not anywhere close to a “solution” as the Shasta County Counsel and even the sheriff pointed out. So why does it exist? R-3 exists because the MAGA J.C.K. Cartel, while rattling its neo-confederate words and threatening citizens and non-citizens alike, needs tropes like, “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists…” to try and maintain its power, using racism, lies, fear, misinformation, etc., just like they use non-existent “Voter Fraud” tropes. And sadly, as evidenced in some of the “Hippie Dippy” remakes found here on this topic, the Cartel is demonstrating a rather low educational stance, too often found in rural America.
Thanks for your responses, it is good to see sanity and logic applied.
I love Gene Tierney, she was great in the movie “Laura.”
80% ? Again, fictious numbers! More like 20% Most of Shasta County is Center Right but not so far off the rails like Red White and Boo, Jones or Kelstrom. Jon your keyboard ignorance is again outrageous. Stop your ignorant spews and start reading something other than Mein Kampf.
There are those who us and tired of the propaganda and Rhetoric in our County. We can’t BOS to focus on agenda items like the homeless, High housing cost, Insurance needs of those in rural areas. Instead we stack our County with Yes Men in Decision Roles. Then go off the rolls pushing voter fraud, minimizing lawsuits, and listening to the voice of the minority in our County.