A pair of bills to fund lawsuits against the Trump administration and defend immigrants from deportation became law when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the legislation on Friday afternoon. The state Legislature, controlled by Newsom’s fellow Democrats, passed the bills early last week, ending a special session that Newsom called in December.
The fate of one of the bills to provide $25 million for nonprofits that defend immigrants from deportation and represent them in other immigration proceedings was in question last week. Republicans sought an amendment barring immigrants with serious criminal histories from receiving legal support with the new funds, but fell short of the needed votes.
Democrats led by Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas instead signed a “letter of legislative intent” — which doesn’t have much legal value — stating that the funds aren’t intended to help immigrants with serious or violent crime convictions.
Newsom said in an accompanying letter Friday afternoon that those legal services programs “are vital to safeguarding the civil rights of California’s most vulnerable residents, including people with disabilities, youth who are homeless, victims of human trafficking and wage theft, people facing unlawful evictions, immigrants and more.”
But the governor in his letter also stressed that “none of the funding in this bill is intended to be used for immigration-related services for noncitizens convicted of serious or violent felonies,” echoing lawmakers’ letter of legislative intent.
The governor’s letter also asked lawmakers to clarify that the funds are supposed to support Californians with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status, known as “dreamers.” Other intended uses of the funds are to help seek immigration “remedies” for immigrants having trouble with their legal status and to help immigrants become citizens, the letter said.
The other bill that Newsom signed Friday hands out $25 million more to the state Department of Justice for lawsuits against the new administration of President Donald Trump. The department, led by Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta, already has sued the department to challenge Trump’s historic attempts to end birthright citizenship and freeze potentially trillions in federal spending.
On Friday, Bonta filed a lawsuit to block billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing federal payment systems that contain Americans’ sensitive personal information.
California sued Trump’s prior administration 123 times under Bonta’s predecessor, Xavier Becerra, and won about two thirds of the cases, mostly dealing with immigration enforcement and environmental rules, the attorney general said.
As he plans to deport more people living in the country illegally — a central campaign promise — Trump has also moved to roll back humanitarian protections for hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants, as he did during his first term in office. The U.S. Department of Justice has also told legal aid groups to stop work on federal programs that help people in immigration courts and detention centers navigate complex laws.
The two bills were authored in the Senate by Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat representing San Francisco. Sen. Brian W. Jones, the Republican minority leader from San Diego, had urged Newsom to veto both in a statement last week, calling the funding a “slush fund” and “political stunt.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
