Fallen Servicemember Finally Laid to Rest in Central Valley Hometown

0:00From KQED. Support for KQED Podcasts comes from Star One Credit Union. Give your savings account the love it deserves. When you keep your money with Star One, you keep more of your money. Star One Credit Union in your best interest. Good morning. This is the California Report. I'm Billy Cruz and for Maddie Balanios. The Trump Administration's Department of Homeland Security is continuing to buy up ice detention facilities in California. And as of this week, now has full ownership of the Autolanto Ice Processing Center near Victorville. KVCR's Anthony Victoria has the details. DHS bought the Adelante of Facilities from Private Prison Operator, Geo Group, which announced the sale Monday. The purchase is part of a larger pattern. Earlier this summer, DHS bought detention centers in Othay, Mesa and California City from another private prison contractor, Corsific. Combine the feds have spent more than $2 billion on these facilities.

1:01DHS said in a statement that ice has $45 billion to expand detention space under President Trump's budget bill. For years, the government only leased these facilities, but owning them outright could help limit state and local oversight at a time when California is trying to increase it. Just last week, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a package of more than 20 bills, aimed at boosting accountability around immigration enforcement in the state. For the California Report, I'm Anthony Victoria in San Bernardino. Federal Immigration agents arrested a man on the campus of Allen Hancock College in Santa Maria on the Central Coast Monday morning according to the school. Myrene, a first-year student, said she didn't want to share her last name to protect her family's safety, but told KCBX her father was arrested by ICE agents as he was dropping her off for class. I was just left at the parking lot alone inside my dad's car waiting for my family member to pick me up. Myrene says her family knows where her father is located, but they haven't been able to reach

2:04him over the phone. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond in time to KCBX's request for comment, but a spokesperson from ICE's LA office told the news organization NewsHawk the agency has no record of activity at Allen Hancock College. A fallen service member recently received a funeral with full military honors in the Teleri County Community of Exeter. It was a bittersweet homecoming that many, including his family, never believed would happen. KVPR's Amare Alvarez attended the funeral services. It's a sunny Friday morning. The American flag sways from a fire truck crane, and over 200 locals, service members, veterans and family have gathered in the Exeter Cemetery. They're here to say goodbye to a fallen airman, Sergeant Adolf Aguirri.

3:08For the Gary didn't die recently, it happened in 1943. His remains have been missing ever since for over 80 years. Sergeant Aguirri or Chico as his family calls him was a World War II pilot. It is basically the end of this chapter that we know he's no longer missing. Juan Aguirri is Chico's cousin. Chico grew up in Exeter, the son of Mexican immigrants from Guanajuato. In 1942, he enlisted in the Air Force after graduating high school. Just a year later, Chico's plane was shot down during a mission over Italy. His body was never recovered. He was only 21. Maria, his mom, suffered because she just never got that closure. So tomorrow we get to do that, bring his baby back home. Juan shows me a black and white photo of Chico wearing his aviator gear. This is the original photo here. My father carried that with him wherever he went.

4:10Stories from Juan's father pushed him to seek out information that eventually led to this service today. It started 20 years ago when he got in touch with the Department of Defense. My father became very ill and I guess subconsciously I was afraid that his stories were going to vanish. In 2019, the agency reopened Chico's case and in 2022, they exhumed World War II remains from an American cemetery in Italy. But they needed help identifying them, specifically DNA. They asked Juan to provide samples from living family members. Kerry Brown is a forensic anthropologist with the Defense POW-MIA Accounting Agency. She's the office that uses DNA analysis to identify missing service members. She told me about the types of remains they encounter. It can be anything from a single tooth or a single bone fragment all the way up to remains that still have soft tissue. Brown worked on Chico's case.

5:11She says her office identifies around 200 missing people per year. So of the over 80,000 missing, we believe about half of those are actually recoverable. We don't know the percentage that's identifiable. The family DNA is necessary to make an ID. Brown loves that moment. I get really excited at that initial match. In May of this year, Chico's remains were matched. He was flown to Fresno on September 11th and welcomed back that day with a homecoming procession. Historian Dwight Miller was at both the procession and the funeral. He has studied Chico. He says he was extremely talented. The PE teacher had a ping pong tournament for the whole school. And he's the school ping pong champion. He'd never touched a bad man in Iraq and he would grab one and all of a sudden he's the best guy in the building. And so he was just a gifted guy. Chico's story has inspired generations of people. One of those is Hoselewie's security, Juan's brother.

6:12Hoselewie says Chico motivated him to join the Marine Corps. Today, he wears a World War II veteran pen with a ribbon that says proud family. And the Geary Family is proud. More than 50 family members from across California came for the services. It does mean so much not only to myself, to my children, but my entire family along with the exeter community that has been so supportive. Chico is now buried in the same cemetery as his parents. He signs staked about his father's grave says, welcome home son. For the California Report, I'm Amary Alvarez and Exeter. And that's the California Report for Tuesday, October 6th. We are a production of KQED News. I'm Billy Cruz.

7:13Thanks for listening and have a great day. Thank you for the California Report. Comes from Paint Care, making paint recycling easy at more than 800 sites in California. PaintCare.org. The James Irvine Foundation, committed to a California where all low income workers have the power to advance economically. Learn more at Irvine.org. And Eric and Wendy Schmidt, whose philanthropy works to create a healthy, resilient, secure world for all on the web at the Schmidt.org. A dark night, a quiet house, but inside danger was lurking. Oh, not really. We have Xfinity Shield, so we're not worried. What if protecting your home and devices could be drama free? Xfinity. Imagine that. Restrictions apply, not available in all areas. Support for KQED Podcasts comes from Save the Bay. Protecting and restoring San Francisco Bay for 65 years. Community and corporate volunteer opportunities available along the shoreline to help drive

8:13positive change. More at SaveSFB.org. A dark night, a quiet house, but inside danger was lurking. Oh, not really. We have Xfinity Shield, so we're not worried. What if protecting your home and devices could be drama free? Xfinity. Imagine that. Restrictions apply, not available in all areas.