A conservative enclave in Southern California is embroiled in a legal dispute with the state's liberal authorities over its voter ID law that was passed by more than 50% of the city's voters. 

Huntington Beach Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark told Fox News Digital the latest lawsuit from Sacramento authorities is just another targeted attack on the city's values. 

"I'm a person of color, I grew up in a low-income community in Los Angeles, and we all had IDs," Van Der Mark told Fox News Digital in an interview Thursday. "And one thing that is really frustrating is they're saying, people like me are too ignorant or incapable of getting an ID, and that's insulting."

"This is definitely government overreach," she said.

California's Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta and California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber filed a lawsuit last week against the beach city – which is roughly 35 miles south of Los Angeles – challenging its voter ID law, Measure A, which amends the city’s charter to allow voter ID requirements by 2026. It also includes a requirement for additional in-person voting locations. 

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"They're telling us 'it's okay, we don't need these measures of security,' but we're insisting on them," Van Der Mark, elected in 2023, said. "So, they can sue us. We're going to push forward and do what the people want us to do."

In their lawsuit, Bonta and Weber argued that the city’s voter ID law "unlawfully conflicts and is preempted by state law." 

"The right to freely cast your vote is the foundation of our democracy and Huntington Beach’s voter ID policy flies in the face of this principle," Bonta said in a statement. 

He argued that state elections already contain "robust voter ID requirements with strong protections to prevent voter fraud." He said the new requirements would disproportionately burden "low-income voters, voters of color, young or elderly voters, and people with disabilities." 

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The City Council, led by a politically conservative majority since 2022, stirred considerable debate by making contentious decisions on various issues recently, like the government-only flag protocol on city properties and removal of sexually explicit books in the public library.

"Sacramento is trying to make an example out of Huntington Beach," Van Der Mark said. "They're suing us every opportunity they can and every time we do something, they try to write bills to counter what we're doing or to make what we're doing illegal. So, I believe they're trying to sway us into submission, and we're not going to allow that to happen."

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California officials first warned Huntington Beach officials to drop the voter ID proposal in September. The lawsuit argues that Measure A violates state law and is invalid because it conflicts with California's Constitution, which grants charter cities the authority to govern "municipal affairs" but prohibits local laws from conflicting with statewide laws. 

Under current California law, according to the AG's office, "voter identity is established before registered voters get to the polls; at the polls, registered voters are only required to provide their name and address – no further identification is required."

This is not the first time the state has threatened a conservative city over local laws passed. Last year, Bonta threatened several school districts over their parental notification policies. 

Fox News' Bradford Bretz and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

High-stakes climate litigation being pursued across the country and worldwide, purportedly on behalf of children, can be traced to a single, left-wing public interest law firm with big-money backing and ties to longtime progressive activists, Fox News Digital has learned.

The Oregon-based firm Our Children’s Trust (OCT), which is classified as a 501(c)(3) public charity, was established more than a decade ago to provide youth with legal services "to secure their legal rights to a safe climate." Since its founding, OCT has filed multiple federal lawsuits, spearheaded legal actions in all 50 states and is even involved in litigation in Canada, Mexico, Pakistan, India and Uganda.

"These young people are doing exactly what they’ve been taught by elders — when they see a wrong, they take steps to right it," Mat dos Santos, OCT's co-executive director and general counsel, said last week.

Dos Santos, who is tasked with overseeing OCT's legal program, made the comments during a rally outside the White House where activists called for President Biden to take their side in Juliana v. United States, one of several cases the group is pursuing. According to OCT, the plaintiffs in the case are 21 young Americans who are concerned the government has violated their constitutional rights to life, liberty and property.

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OCT filed its complaint in Juliana v. United States in 2015, arguing that the federal government has contributed to global warming for decades, despite being well aware of the cataclysmic impacts of climate change. The lawsuit — which is currently making its way through the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals — takes aim at policies allowing fossil fuel extraction, transportation and combustion.

Days before the White House rally, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., one of the original architects of the Green New Deal, released a podcast with dos Santos and some of the plaintiffs in the case. In the episode, the senior lawmaker lauded the children for "fighting against what preceding generations have done to pollute and to create this problem."

The group's growing suite of climate litigation, meanwhile, broadly follows the same format, asserting on behalf of a handful of youth that federal or state agencies are harming their future by allowing fossil fuel reliance. 

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OCT's most recent lawsuit was filed in December against the Environmental Protection Agency, and its most successful case so far has been Held v. State of Montana, which yielded a favorable judgment last year. The First Judicial District Court of Montana's ruling, which has since been appealed by the state, struck down certain state laws promoting fossil fuels and concluded youth plaintiffs were harmed by said laws.

"Today, for the first time in U.S. history, a court ruled on the merits of a case that the government violated the constitutional rights of children through laws and actions that promote fossil fuels, ignore climate change, and disproportionately imperil young people," Julia Olson, OCT's chief legal counsel and co-executive director, said after the ruling in August 2023.

But, according to a Fox News Digital review of financial filings, career databases and recruitment documents, OCT has attracted the financial backing of major left-wing philanthropic nonprofits and is led by longtime activists. In its 2023 impact report, the group stated it receives pro bono legal support from people affiliated with Earthjustice and Oxfam America, two massive groups involved in climate lawsuits.

OCT also actively recruits children between the ages of 8 and 18 years old to serve as the face of their legal efforts. Children interested in serving as plaintiffs in OCT's cases are directed to an online interest form, which asks applicants for a wide range of contact information, including their pronouns, and how climate change has impacted them personally.

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"Our Children’s Trust exploits well-intentioned kids, using them as political cover to achieve its goal of shutting down responsible energy development in Montana and around the nation," said Chase Scheuer, a spokesperson for Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen. Knudsen has taken the lead in defending his state's energy policies in Held v. State of Montana.

"Unable to implement policies through the normal processes of representative government, they are trying to override the will of the people and use the courts to impose their extremist climate agenda," Scheuer continued.

Overall, OCT reports having more than $5.4 million in net assets and received $2.2 million in financial contributions in 2022 and $3.2 million in contributions a year prior, according to its tax forms. While the group's donors are hidden from public view, a review of various liberal nonprofits' tax forms shows the group routinely receives large grants.

For example, in 2022, it received $200,000 from the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation; $100,000 from the Alex C. Walker Foundation; $100,000 from Impact Assets; and donations worth $50,000 from the Jacob & Terese Hershey Foundation and Park Foundation, among others. Those grantmaking nonprofits generally contribute to progressive social and environmental causes.

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The Amalgamated Foundation, OCT's apparent largest financier, is the charitable arm of Amalgamated Bank, an operation focused on progressive issues and which is majority-owned and controlled by Workers United, a division of the massive labor union Service Employees International Union (SEIU). 

Under the leadership of its executive director Anna Fink, the Amalgamated Foundation spearheaded a campaign after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot to pressure organizations to divert donations for Republicans to the Amalgamated Foundation instead. That program received backing from George Soros’ Open Society Foundation.

In addition, dos Santos and Olson, OCT's co-executive directors, have a long history of progressive activism. 

Dos Santos remains on the boards of the Transgender Law Center, Latino Network and the Chosen Family Law Center. He also previously served as legal director of the ACLU's Oregon chapter, where he advocated for LGBT rights, immigrants and criminal justice reform. Dos Santos notably led a challenge against former President Donald Trump's immigration actions and represented a transgender inmate demanding the state provide hormone therapy.

And Olson previously served as an attorney at Earthjustice before beginning her own firm, Wild Earth Advocates.

Other staff and members of OCT's board of directors have ties to climate-focused organizations such as the Women’s Environmental and Development Organization, Western Environmental Law Center, Food & Water Watch and Columbia University's Earth Institute.

OCT and the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation didn't respond to requests for comment.

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. — As Border Patrol agents work to combat the movement of illegal immigrants across the southern border in the El Paso Sector, they say a multi-layered enforcement system that has been expanded in recent years and combines the use of barriers with technology and other forms of enforcement has helped thwart cartel smuggling operations and nab illegal immigrants moving into the U.S.

Overshadowing the border in Sunland Park, New Mexico, is miles of border wall. Some of it is border fence built during the Obama administration, while other parts consist of Trump-era bollard wall. 

Fox News Digital was on the ground when agents nabbed illegal immigrants just feet from the fence they had cut a hole through. Even though they got through, it gave agents time to apprehend them. Agents generally prefer the bollard fencing, saying it is harder to cut through. And other parts of the fencing have been reinforced with bollards and, in some cases, filled with concrete.

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However, critics of barriers have noted that barriers are not a fix by themselves. Barriers, even those with bollards and filled with concrete, can be cut through. And strewn along the border were makeshift ladders and ropes, which migrants use to scale the barrier.

Along other parts of the border, wall construction isn't possible. This is the case on the looming Mount Cristo Rey, a steep area where a wall cannot be built and the U.S.-Mexico border is marked only with obelisks. It is here that other layers of the enforcement strategy come into play.

The Biden administration stopped most border wall construction in 2021, although it has continued to make some repairs and moved forward with construction that had already been appropriated. Overall, however, it has instead emphasized the importance of technology. And in this area, agents say the administration has delivered.

There are now 24 autonomous surveillance towers (AST) in the El Paso Sector, and there are more than 50 deployed in the neighboring Big Bend Sector, officials say. The Biden administration’s fiscal 2025 budget includes an additional $127 million for "modernizing border security technology," including additional deployments of towers.

The 24-hour-a-day towers, running on renewable energy, work by scanning the environment with radar. They use artificial intelligence to "hand off" from one another. So, if a group moves out of sight of one tower, the neighboring tower picks it up. The use of AST did not start with the Biden administration. It began during the Trump administration, but it has expanded dramatically under the current administration.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS

CBP says the technology comes into play even before migrants get into the U.S., allowing agents to plan before anyone even steps foot on U.S. soil. The AI technology can scan faces, differentiate between humans and wildlife and can send immediate alerts to agents in the field on their phones or tablets. It can also identify how many people are in a group. So, if agents are told to look for a group of eight migrants and find only five, they know there’s another three they still have to track down.

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The towers have been deployed throughout the border, but here they are especially useful given the treacherous terrain in the mountains. With the towers in place, agents don’t need to chase migrants up the mountain. They can monitor and track them via the towers and wait for the migrants to eventually emerge (often exhausted) on flat land. 

Should migrants get through the border wall and become spotted by the surveillance towers, they still need to be apprehended. This is where the Border Patrol agents will make the apprehensions. 

But they have assistance. The CBP Canine Unit is headquartered in El Paso, and some Border Patrol agents are trained how to use specially trained dogs to track down migrants and smugglers, in addition to the unit's roles in other fields throughout CBP’s jurisdiction.

The K-9s can also help apprehend those illegal immigrants who may become violent and try to attack agents. Fox saw Canu, one of the K-9s deployed in Sunland Park, work with his handler as he sniffed the terrain for a possible lead.

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Meanwhile, Border Patrol is also aided by helicopters from CBP’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO). They swoop over the mountains to conduct additional surveillance, scaring off migrants who may be planning on making the run across, while also allowing AMO to help with rescues quickly if needed.  

In the fiscal 2025 budget, the administration wants to invest an additional $210 million in staffing, which includes Border Patrol, as well as $86 million for AMO support.

Another deployment here in El Paso is the use of rescue towers, which allow migrants to press a button to call for help. The 21 towers in the sector warn migrants they are in danger and can call for assistance. The button triggers a sharp blue light on top of the beacon visible by agents miles around.

Fox viewed one rescue tower situated near where there was an infamous case in 2021 of two young girls, 3 and 5, dropped off by a smuggler over the wall. Luckily, agents spotted and rescued them. Other migrants have not been so lucky, and there are plenty of instances of agents coming across dead bodies. These towers are designed to help prevent that.

So far in fiscal 2024, agents in the El Paso Sector have rescued more than 300 migrants, but there have also been 34 migrant deaths.

While in nearby Texas there has been friction between the federal government and state officials, here in New Mexico, local authorities and CBP are working together. 

New Mexico state law enforcement will coordinate with Border Patrol to stop illegal immigrants coming across. Recently, officials in Dona Ana County announced a partnership to prosecute state offenses committed by smugglers.

Overall, Border Patrol believe the multi-layered enforcement strategy is working. They point to a sharp decrease in apprehensions over the last year. There were 427,471 in fiscal 2023 by Border Patrol in the sector. So far in fiscal 2024, which began in October, there have been just over 150,000. 

Separately, officials point to the busting of more than 136 stash houses, with over 1,377 smuggled migrants by their interdiction teams so far in fiscal 2024.

The Columbia University Senate in New York City voted in favor of a resolution calling for an investigation into the school’s leadership amid anti-Israel protests that have taken place on the campus for over a week.

A source within the school’s leadership confirmed the details of the resolution, saying it was adopted by a vote of 62-14, with three senate members abstaining.

The resolution alleges Columbia President Minouche Shafik violated established protocols when she authorized the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to enter the campus and arrest protesters last week.

Specifically, Shafik is accused of violating the due process rights of students and faculty when she authorized officers to enter the campus.

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The university senate does not have the authority to remove Shafik, as it is the university’s policy-making body, which is made up of students, faculty and administrators.

"The administration and Senate share the same goal of restoring calm to campus, so everyone can pursue their educational activities," the university said. "We are committed to an ongoing dialogue and appreciate the Senate’s constructive engagement in finding a pathway forward."

Shafik has increasingly faced calls to step down amid the spread of antisemitism on campus as well as ongoing protests against Israel that have disrupted classes. 

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On Monday, Shafik said in a statement she was "deeply saddened" by certain actions of agitators, who have formed an "encampment" on the campus and riled up students and faculty with anti-Jewish slogans and chants. 

The protest encampment sprung up on the campus lawn area at Columbia April 17, the same day Shafik faced bruising criticism at a congressional hearing from Republicans who said she hadn't done enough to fight antisemitism. Two other Ivy League presidents resigned months ago following widely criticized testimony they gave to the same committee. 

U.S. House Republicans from New York have urged Shafik to resign, saying in a letter Monday she had failed to provide a safe learning environment in recent days as "anarchy has engulfed the campus."

Fox News' CB Cotton and Bradford Betz contributed to this report.

Some Missouri residents and lawmakers are calling for faster cleanup at several toxic sites in the St. Louis area.

"We always felt like we're being gaslit by these federal agencies, like the way they would answer questions, the way they were just very nonchalant," Just Moms STL co-founder Dawn Chapman told Fox News. "They really should have gone in there before any of this was built and cleaned the creek. They had a chance to really prevent all the harm that we're seeing now. And for whatever reason, they chose not to."

Chapman’s group, which she founded with her neighbor Karen Nickel, advocates for the cleanup of contaminated sites in St. Louis.

"We've talked to a lot of people that live just less than a half a mile from West Lake Landfill," Nickel said. "Since those homes were built there back in the late '50s, they had no idea that a landfill was even there."

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Nickel and Chapman said when they bought their homes, they were unaware the landfill was located nearby and that it was designated as a superfund site.

"It was like, what the heck is that? I didn't know to even look for that when I purchased my house," Chapman said.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been providing updates on the cleanups using social media, making information accessible online.

"There are some of the activists that are in the area and the community members that are very strong, that are always willing to provide information. We really tried to beef up our relationship with the key community members, and I think that's paying off," EPA Region 7 Superfund and Emergency Management Division Director Bob Jurgens said.

The EPA added the West Lake Landfill to its national priorities list in 1990. The list is part of its Superfund sites program documenting hazardous waste sites in the country. Those locations are eligible for federal funding to pay for extensive, long-term cleanup actions. 

"The Superfund process can be very lengthy. We understand their concerns with that," Jurgens said.

The EPA proposed a plan for remediation in 2006. After a public comment period, the agency adjusted its plan and released a new Record of Decision in 2008.

"Based on feedback from the community, there was an amendment to that which was completed in 2018," Jurgens said. "It's been pretty much nonstop work with the responsible parties to do the assessment, the remedial design, and then eventually get to the implementation."

Nearly 35 years after its designation as a Superfund site, residents have argued the process should be further along.

"We're told we're close to getting it there. But, you know, we're running up against a clock," Chapman said.

The EPA admitted it did not have a firm schedule for when the West Lake Landfill will be fully cleaned up.

"We don't have a timeline. It's difficult to guess how long this is going to take. We've made really good progress with the responsible parties on doing the full assessment," Jurgens said.

Adding to the complex work, a fire has been burning at the site for nearly a decade. The EPA reported it did not know how the fire started.

"It's not uncommon for there to be landfill fires," Jurgens said. "Once that fire is underground, it's really difficult to put that out. But they've done some really good actions at that site to address that."

Jurgens said there was significant space between the fire and the radioactive waste. Crews have installed a barrier to contain the fire and officials said there's currently no risk to residents in the area.

"That subsurface smoldering event is definitely in better shape than it was several years ago," Jurgens said.

Chapman and other people living in the area said issues in the past have contributed to the lengthy cleanup happening today.

"The truth is, that both federal agencies in charge of this radioactivity across the region, have made huge errors and mistakes in characterizing it," Chapman said.

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The two sites where toxic waste was stored after the Manhattan Project were added to the national priorities list in 1989. The list has not included Coldwater Creek, which extends from those sites, but locations along the creek where radioactivity has been found have fallen under the storage sites’ listing.

"This creek goes 14 miles throughout the county that I serve. And so I just believe that the whole entire creek should be tested," Missouri State Rep. Chantelle Nickson-Clark said.

Nickson-Clark, a Democrat, is a two-time cancer survivor who grew up near Coldwater Creek. She's representing the area and recently hosted a town hall to hear the stories of others living there.

"A lot of the constituents shared how they too have lost loved ones and are dealing with the aftermath," Nickson-Clark said. "It is very sad to see my community hurting and dealing with such effects of Coldwater Creek. We know that there are a lot more stories out there."

The Army Corps of Engineers, the lead federal agency working to clean up the waterway, has estimated that the effort could take until 2038.

"If you do the math, we're already 80 years into it," Nickson-Clark said. "Some of us may not even experience the cleanup in our lifetime."

Like the EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers admitted the process has been lengthy.

"There’s an extensive amount of coordination, investigation, documentation, remediation that we have to do just to get one area. So the overall process definitely does take some time," U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Louis District Program Manager Phil Moser said.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said the timeline for cleanup at both sites was unacceptable.

"This is outrageous. Let's remember, this creek has had contamination in it since the ‘50s, since the ’60s and now 2038? I mean, we will be getting close to the century mark," Hawley said. "They should quit kicking the can down the road. This ought to be an all-hands-on-deck effort." 

The Army Corps of Engineers has been taking samples along the 14-mile stretch of Coldwater Creek. The area included some 756 properties such as homes, commercial locations and recreational sites. They've been testing for uranium, radium and thorium, among other contaminates.

"When the Army Corps took over in 1998, the extent was not 100% known," Moser said. "We got to 2012 and realized that there was more extensive sampling needed in Coldwater Creek."

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New maps from the agency showed locations with contaminated soil. They also showed parts where crews were taking samples and areas they had tested and determined safe.

"There is more waste than they're saying there is," Nickel said. "The Army Corps, I don't know whether it's that they're not coming forth, being truthful, not being transparent. It's hard to tell because it's not been a very trusting relationship with that agency over the years."

Coldwater Creek flows behind Jana Elementary School. It closed in 2022 after thorium, which has been linked to cancers, was detected on the property.

"Jana Elementary School was truly a nightmare come true for us because we knew where it's at along the creek," Chapman said.

Ashley Bernaugh is also a member of the Just Moms STL group. She was PTA president at Jana Elementary, which her son attended. She said she had been requesting testing and documents from the Army Corps of Engineers for several years.

"Since 2018, the Army Corps of Engineers has really done its due diligence, and the Department of Energy along with them, to not answer my questions," Bernaugh said.

Moser said the agency tested both inside and outside the school and determined the contamination was background radiation.

"We verified and concluded that the school was safe from a radiological standpoint, and we stand by that, as well as the federal agencies that reviewed our documentation," Moser said.

Bernaugh and other advocates said it wasn’t enough. They eventually had an outside company take samples from the school grounds.

"The Boston Chemical Company were able to take dust samples and analyze them and found thorium 230, which is a metallic kind of thorium used in the radioactive bomb waste that is from early weapons development in St. Louis," Bernaugh said.

The Army Corps of Engineers reported it found dangerous levels of thorium, but only in locations close to the creek.

"The banks of the creek are being remediated by the Army Corps of Engineers because it meets their magical threshold. Of what? What they're willing to clean up of radioactive waste?," Bernaugh said.

The Army Corps also has been taking soil samples from homes near Coldwater Creek after finding contamination on the properties.

"They're finding radioactive contamination under people's basements next to the creek," Hawley said. "They've never made it right. They've never compensated Missourians for what they did and they haven't cleaned it up. They need to clean up the creek. They need to clean up the landfills, and they need to compensate people who've gotten sick."