Gavin Newsom calls for more state spending at Mexico border, aiming to help migrants

Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to spend a portion of the state’s budget surplus on supporting migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border, aiming to provide basic necessities to thousands of people.

He’s asking the Legislature to set aside $105 million for the border. An additional $100 million would aid immigrants integrating into the country, aligning with much of the Biden administration’s proposed immigration policies.

The new proposal comes as the U.S.-Mexico border experiences an influx of migrants and unaccompanied children arriving at the border to seek asylum in the United States.

The U.S. Border Patrol encountered 16,933 unaccompanied minors in April, according to data provided by the agency. That’s almost twice the number of unaccompanied minors that border patrol officers encountered in April of 2019.

While it’s common during this time of year to see an uptick in asylum seekers traveling to the border, many are also seeking asylum to escape violence, poverty and social turmoil in their countries.

“We are a state that doesn’t tolerate diversity, it celebrates diversity,” Newsom said during a press conference announcing his budget plan. “We need to do more to help support immigrants emigrate and integrate into this state.”

Here’s what Newsom is proposing under his budget plan for immigrant communities.

Spending at the border

The California governor is proposing $105 million to go toward the Rapid Response Fund, which provides resources for organizations that offer critical services for immigrants and immigrant families.

Those services include providing shelter, food and emergency medical care, according to H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the California Department of Finance.

So far, Brian Ferguson, a spokesman for Newsom’s Office of Emergency Services, said the state has established triage sites in Imperial and Riverside counties that will provide migrants COVID-19 testing, medical screenings and help coordinate travel for migrants upon release from federal custody. Ferguson expects another site to begin operating in San Diego County soon.

That follows the $28 million the state announced it would spend to help asylum seekers entering the U.S. through the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego to await their court dates. The previous funding was used to pay for the hotels of migrants to quarantine and to support community-based organizations, like the Jewish Family Services of San Diego, that offer migrants medical care, transportation, food, COVID-19 testing and case management services.

Unaccompanied migrant children

Newsom’s budget plan contains $25 million to help unaccompanied migrant children.

Most of the funding —$14 million — would go toward funding legal services for unaccompanied, undocumented children, according to the budget proposal. The rest would fund the California Newcomer Education and Well-Being Project and establish the Opportunities for Youth pilot project.

“We’re not going to be passive and responsive, we want to be proactive on border efforts supporting the Biden administration,” Newsom said.

DACA Fees

About $25 million will go towards legal filing costs for recipients of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, under Newsom’s budget plan.

California is home to more than 188,000 DACA recipients, according to an analysis by the Center for American Progress. The average age of arrival to the U.S. among so-called Dreamers in California is seven, the analysis shows.

ESL college courses

Newsom’s administration to proposing to spend $50 million on developing more vocational training and English-as-a-second-language programs at community colleges.

In California, community colleges “play a central role in educating students who are not fully proficient in English,” according to a 2019 report by the Public Policy Institute of California.

This story was originally published May 20, 2021 at 5:25 AM.