With assurances that “sunlight is pouring over the entire world,” President Donald Trump was sworn into office Monday for his second term. He wasted no time taking potshots at California.
During his 30-minute inauguration speech, Trump said the Los Angeles County wildfires, which broke out two weeks ago, burned without “a token of defense.” (This is not true.) After his swearing-in, Trump also accused the state of voter fraud, but provided no evidence, and directed his administration to route more water from the Delta to elsewhere in California, including Southern California.
In response, Gov. Gavin Newsom said his administration “stands ready to work with” Trump and that he is looking forward to Trump’s upcoming visit to L.A. But the governor’s office also responded to Trump’s wildfire comment with photos of California firefighters in action. Last week, Newsom and top legislative Democrats agreed on a $50 million plan to “Trump-proof” the state by fighting his policies in court.
In other Trump news:
Uncertainty at the border: Trump on Monday proclaimed a national emergency at the southern border. He then issued a series of executive orders, including ones to target jurisdictions with sanctuary laws (which presumably includes California) and pull their federal funding; designate drug cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations;” and limit birthright citizenship — the latter of which will likely set up a colossal constitutional fight. A decade ago, more than a quarter of the country’s children born in the U.S. to at least one undocumented parent lived in California.
Amid the flurry of proclamations (with more to come throughout the week), undocumented immigrants braced themselves for the road ahead, reports CalMatters’ Wendy Fry.
One resident who had an ongoing immigration case said he planned to take “no unnecessary trips” between borders. Others — who crossed the border every day for work — said they don’t expect Trump’s executive orders to affect their lives too much, but they do plan to carry proof that they are naturalized U.S. citizens at all times.
CA vs. Trump: And CalMatters’ and Ana B. Ibarra and Ben Christopher dive into California’s legal battles against Trump’s during his first term to see what could lie ahead. Between 2017 and 2021, the state sued the federal administration a total of 123 times. Trump won those cases about a third of the time — a rate that’s lower than the three previous administrations.
But experts say things could be different this time around: Trump could be more strategic and defend his policy decisions in a way that makes it harder to legally challenge.
On the other hand, a 2023 ruling by the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court that makes it easier for businesses and state governments to challenge federal rules (considered at the time a victory for conservatives and Big Business) could ease the path for California’s attorney general to hinder Trump’s administration.
Sheriffs weigh immigration sanctuary law
As Trump’s plans of mass deportations get underway, the 58 sheriffs who are in charge of California’s local jails have a political conundrum on their hands, write CalMatters’ Nigel Duara and Tomas Apodaca.
They can either enforce a state sanctuary law (that some sheriff’s personally oppose), which limits law enforcement’s participation in immigration enforcement. Or they can fully accommodate federal immigration enforcement agents; as one sheriff said, that can mean “working somehow around (California’s sanctuary law).”
Because sheriffs help determine who gets arrested and deported, what they decide to do can affect the lives of 1.8 million undocumented Californians. While all the sheriffs CalMatters spoke with said immigration enforcement isn’t their job, some said they don’t plan to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement authorities, and won’t allow agents to use county staff or databases without a warrant.
Others said federal agents are free to use their jail websites and fingerprints databases to identify people of interest, which at least one sheriff said doesn’t violate state law.
