California’s special session to fight Donald Trump becomes fiery immigration debate
A $50 million package in the California Legislature to boost resources for court battles against President Donald Trump’s policies has in some ways turned into a proxy debate over immigration, an illustration of how deeply the new administration’s policies could impact the state’s residents and economy.
One of Trump’s main campaign pillars was to crack down on immigration and enforce mass deportations.
One of the California bills – part of a special session convened by Gov. Gavin Newsom after Trump’s victory – earmarks $10 million for organizations that provide immigration services and legal aid.
During committee and floor debates over the past week, Republican lawmakers have called it “a slap in the face” to spend taxpayer dollars defending illegal immigration. Some insisted Trump will only deport those convicted of crimes.
“If you’re in this country illegally and you are a criminal that continues to create victims of all Californians, I don’t want you here,” said Sen. Suzette Martinez Valladares, R-Santa Clarita, said last week during a Senate floor debate on the bills.
Another Latina Republican, Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh of Yucaipa, suggested repealing the state’s sanctuary law, which prevents state and local resources being used to enforce immigration laws.
This “compels (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to go into our communities and pose a threat to those folks that are here trying to make a living and create an American Dream,” she said. “They become collateral damage.”
While some Democrats around the country, including some California House members, are shifting their messaging on immigration, that doesn’t appear to be the case in the California Capitol, where Democrats hold a supermajority.
The legislation “is about real people, keeping families together, making sure our diversity thrives in years to come,” said Senate President pro tem Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg.
Democratic lawmakers from around the state have pledged to do everything in their power to protect the estimated 1.8 million people living in California without legal authorization, noting industries like agriculture and construction rely heavily on the labor of undocumented people.
Some lawmakers spoke tearfully about how deportations split families and instill fear across communities.
Assembly member Celeste Rodriguez, D-San Fernando, said people were afraid to leave their homes to go to the grocery store after Homeland Security trucks were spotted at a Costco in her San Fernando district. “Communities like mine are being terrorized right now,” the freshman lawmaker said.
Some lawmakers in both parties have called on leaders in the state to work with Trump on immigration instead of against him. The president has not expressed a willingness to reach a deal on immigration reform and Republican leaders shot down a bipartisan border security bill in Congress last year.
The debate over $10 million – a tiny fraction of the state’s roughly $300 billion budget – shows lawmakers remain deeply invested in national immigration policy while they adapt to a regime change in Washington that vowed hardline immigration policies.
“Trump’s signature issue of mass deportations touches California unlike it touches other states, which is why I think lawmakers are right to focus on immigration,” said Tom Wong, director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Center at UC San Diego.
“So many residents in California are intricately tied into whatever consequences we might see from mass deportations, whether it’s because they’re undocumented themselves or that they live in a mixed-status family household,” he said, adding that there would be severe economic consequences to mass deportations.
Wong, who helped the attorney general’s office draft its lawsuit against Trump’s executive order to halt birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants, said mass deportations will “inevitably” lead to shortages in agricultural labor, which could increase food prices by 10% or more.
That presents a unique opportunity for Democrats to align with business and farming interests – groups that have traditionally allied with Republicans – said Mike Madrid, a “never-Trump” Republican strategist who studies issues involving Latino voters.
“Both coalitions are being divided and they’re working at cross purposes from where they were when this issue defined California politics a generation ago,” when voters passed a 1994 ballot measure to block undocumented immigrants from accessing public services, he said. The law was ultimately struck down in court.
The anti-immigrant sentiment in the 1990s drove many Latino voters to political activism and Democratic politics. While the majority of Latino voters supported Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election, Trump saw record support from the voting bloc due to his focus on the economy and inflation.
“The reality is, Latinos have changed on this issue. A lot of these Latinos are going to lead this anti-immigrant coalition,” Madrid said. “Democrats who have a real opportunity to go in and make an economic argument on the side of agriculture, who desperately need this workforce.”
Assembly lawmakers are expected to debate the two bills to send $25 million each to the California Department of Justice and legal aid organizations Thursday morning. If approved, they will go to Newsom for his signature. Lawmakers also used the special session to quickly approve $2.5 billion in recovery aid for the Los Angeles wildfires.
This story was originally published January 29, 2025 at 5:00 AM.