Filner was born in Pittsburgh and grew up in New York City. He enrolled in Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., in 1959 and pursued a B.S. in chemistry. The emerging battles for racial integration and the public campaigns of Martin Luther King Jr. drew him to political and social activism, and in the summer following his sophomore year he joined the Freedom Riders-white and African-American passengers who rode together on buses and other public transit in the South to challenge racial segregation laws. For this nonviolent protest, he was jailed in Mississippi for two months of 1961.
Equality is a personal issue for Filner because of his Jewish heritage. In his youth, his family shared with him stories of pogroms and other violence perpetuated against Jewish communities throughout history. His father provided firsthand testimony from his service in World War II, where he had participated in liberating concentration camps.
"My family had taught me early on that racism is the number-one evil in the world, and that, as Jews, we had to combat racism and discrimination wherever we found it... that
Political Start
He also dabbled in national politics, serving as a legislative assistant to Sen. Hubert Humphrey (D-Minn.) in 1975 and to Rep. Don Fraser (D-Minn.) in 1976.
He was incensed by the closure of his children's elementary school and ran for the San Diego School Board in 1979. He won and became the only Democrat on the board. He promoted mandatory homework policies and bureaucratic efficiency. His fellow board members elected him president in 1982; he served for a one-year term and then retired.
In 1984, he served on the staff of Rep. Jim Bates (D-Calif.). Then he returned to local politics and won an election to the San Diego City Council. As council member from 1987 until 1992, he led revitalizations of his city's economic base, including founding the city's Economic Conversion Committee and writing a city Economic Conversion Plan, and he developed new strategies for fighting crime, including Police Walking Patrols and a Citizen Graffiti Patrol with a 24-hour graffiti hotline. The city council elected him deputy mayor in 1990.
The 1990 census resulted in seven new California congressional districts, including the 51st. Filner ran for it and won a four-candidate Democratic primary with 26 percent of the vote; he won the general election with 57 percent. He has easily won reelections with only weak Republican rivals or no rival at all.
Filner took interim duties as ranking Democrat on the on the Veterans Affairs Committee in May 2006 because of the lengthy illness of now-former Rep. Lane Evans (D-Ill.). When Democrats gained control of the House in the 2006 elections, Filner went head-to-head against Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine) for the committee chairmanship. With support from major veterans' organizations and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), he won the caucus vote, 112 to 69.
El Centro Incident
Ahmad Imran, a Pakistani cardiothoracic surgeon and Shiite Muslim, entered the U.S. legally in August 2000 to seek safety from Sunni Muslim extremists in Pakistan who were targeting Shiite physicians for assassination. His visa expired in April 2001, and he was it wouldn't be extended. He stayed anyway. U.S. Border Patrol detained him in April 2002 and filed for his deportation to Pakistan. While Imran sought asylum or, alternatively, voluntary departure to Canada to live with his Canadian wife, Heather McRae, he remained confined in an El Centro, Calif., immigration detention facility.
El Centro is in Filner's district, and Filner decided to intervene on Imran's behalf. One night in February 2003, accompanied by McRae and two reporters, Filner appeared at the facility's entrance and demanded to speak with Imran. Juan Ramirez, an Immigration and Naturalization Services officer at the door, told him that only McRae could enter. Filner grew indignant and asked the officer: "When was the last time you read the Constitution?" The officer called his supervisor, who instructed to him to bar Filner from admission and call the police if Filner became difficult. After ten minutes of further argument, during which Filner challenged accompanying INS officers Ruben Garcia and Jorge Bribiesca with - "Are you going to stop me, big man… Are you going to shoot me? Are you going to arrest me?" - Filner forced his way in.
Seven INS and security officers confronted Filner inside and ordered him to leave. He only grew more defiant and told them that he wanted to " see my constituent and I am not moving from here until I do so." As officers converged, he tried to push his way through and around them, but was eventually subdued. Local police arrived, but Filner had already ceased resisting and they declined to file charges. Filner did, however, get his wish-senior officers later contacted Filner that evening and granted him permission to speak with the detainee. Filner returned and spoke with Imran, then approached Ramirez and apologized for his earlier conduct.
2007 Arrest
In August 2007, Filner was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault-and-battery after entering an off-limits baggage area at Washington-Dulles International Airport. He was visibly upset that his luggage hadn't appeared in the carousels and pushed aside the arm of an employee who ordered him to leave. The charge was subsequently reduced to trespassing and the congressman was fined $100.
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