On this edition of Your Call's Media Roundtable, we're discussing the growing crisis of student homelessness in Monterey County as families face skyrocketing rents and a housing shortage.
We'll also discuss the impacts of devastating cuts to a little known federal program that has given migrant children a path to opportunity.
According to the Guardian, Trump’s 2026 budget, which is set to be debated by Congress this fall, proposes eliminating all funding for the The Migrant Education Program (MEP).
The MEP was thrown into chaos this summer when the Trump administration abruptly froze nearly $7 billion in congressionally approved education funds from the 2025 budget. The funds were eventually released in late July after a coalition of 24 states, including California, sued the Trump administration, and 10 Senate Republicans signed a public letter urging the White House to release them.
Nowhere would the impact of these proposed cuts be felt more than in California, where one out of three migrant students in the US lives. In California, the MEP serves nearly 80,000 youth ages three to 21, most of whom live in rural areas. In Monterey county, there are more than 10,000 students who are eligible for this support.
Guest:
Isabeau Doucet, journalist, documentary film producer, visual storyteller and founding member of AJ+, Al Jazeera's digital news channel
Resources:
The Guardian: Trump cuts threaten futures of 250,000 children of migrant farm workers: ‘We felt like crying’
The Guardian: California’s hidden homeless children: living in garages, doubled-up and unseen
