On the morning of Nov, 9th, California Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, both Democrats, issued the following statement about Donald Trump’s Presidential victory:
“Today, we woke up feeling like strangers in a foreign land, because yesterday Americans expressed their views on a pluralistic and democratic society that are clearly inconsistent with the values of the people of California.
That same election created a Democratic Party super-majority within out state legislature, pretty much enabling it to pass any progressive policy Democrats can dream up.
Given this enormous power, what was its first order of business? Attacking President-Elect Donald Trump, of course!
Previewing an adversarial relationship between California and the federal government over the next four years, legislative leaders opened a new session on Monday by vowing to preserve California’s liberal agenda and passing a resolution rejecting President-elect Donald Trump’s hardline immigration stance.Members of both houses directly confronted Trump’s tough-on-immigration rhetoric, which has included calls to deport millions and block immigration by Muslims. Lawmakers passed a resolution that says “California stands unified in rejecting the politics of hatred and exclusion” and exhorts Trump “to not pursue mass deportation strategies that needlessly tear families apart, or target immigrants for deportation based on vague and unjustified criteria.”
Forget the millions of tax-paying Californians who voted for Trump precisely because he identified the significant problems associated with illegal immigration. Forget about families such as the Stienles who have had family members killed, robbed, raped, and beaten by illegal alien criminals.
Apparently, the main goal of our Democratic legislators is catering to one of the most reliable Democratic Party constituencies (outside of dead people)!
Priorities.
Sacramento’s posturing borrows heavily from Hollywood dramas:
State Sen. Ben Hueso, D-San Diego, introduced a bill Monday in the state legislature that would fund legal representation for noncitizens facing deportation. Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Oakland, introduced a bill that would train public defenders on immigration law and the potential consequences of criminal proceedings.“The Senate condemns in the strongest terms bigoted, racist, or misinformed descriptions of the immigrant community that serve only to foment hatred and violence,” the resolution says. “The Senate supports a comprehensive and workable approach to solving our nation’s historically broken immigration system.”
The editorial of the Sacramento Bee made an astute point: What is the actual price-tag for all this anti-Trump legislation?
Hueso said the price tag for both bills might be $10 million to $80 million. Either number is relatively small in a $172 billion budget. But the size of the spread suggests the ideas need plenty of work before they become law.Hueso said the lawyers who counsel people in immigration court would not be government employees, but rather private attorneys. But just as the cost of such a program is not clear, there are questions about whether there are enough lawyers with proper training to represent the thousands of people who face deportation annually.
There has been a lot of noise about #CalExit, and organizing Californians to leave the Union. However, what are the rules about the federal government jettisoning a state, if any? Trump may want to weigh his options.
Of course, perhaps this focus on Trump is a blessing in disguise. The Los Angeles Times offers the legislative super-majority a quite a “honey do” list (e.g., tax restructuring, affordable housing programs, and climate change controls) with a chilling admonition: Use your power judiciously.
Perhaps Trump can distract Sacramento until 2018, when perhaps we can vote in a little more balance?
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