Walking the immigration tightrope

Jan 16, 2025

Donald Trump speaks during a visit to the US-Mexico border fence.

California lawmakers are figuring out how to respond to increased immigration raids during Donald Trump's second term. | NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images

CRACKING DOWN: Recent immigration raids have rattled many in the Central Valley — including two lawmakers who are bracing for more operations under Donald Trump’s administration.

Even so, Bakersfield state Sen. Melissa Hurtado and Fresno Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria — both Democrats with personal connections to the issue — have concerns about legislative efforts to thwart Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

Hurtado said she’s “inclined to vote ‘no’” on a $50 million Trump litigation and immigrant legal aid package the Legislature will likely take up next week. Soria hasn’t made up her mind. She said she’ll “listen to the debate” and noted legal efforts could help to keep resources in her district. (One widely-cited example was a case to block a citizenship question on the 2020 Census that would have resulted in an undercount of California residents.)

The two purple-district Latino Legislative Caucus members must walk a fine line between supporting their immigrant communities and learning how to maneuver within Trump 2.0. The incoming president won Kern County with nearly 60 percent of the vote and Fresno County with about 51 percent.

The dilemma is particularly potent for Hurtado, who won her seat by just 13 votes in 2022 after a hard-fought battle with a Republican. But the state senator points to a practical reason for treading lightly on the incoming president.

“[We’ve] got to be careful with the way that we message things, with our strategies of trying to Trump-proof California,” Hurtado said. “It's not because I'm in a purple district. Our president's coming in, and are we at risk of losing funding for the fires, for example, because of our position?”

A multi-day U.S. Customs and Border Patrol operation last week in Kern County — which the Los Angeles Times reported resulted in 78 arrests — rattled Hurtado, Soria and their constituents. The Kern operation was the only one confirmed in the state, but the prospect of enforcement expanding to Fresno and Sacramento caused panic e lsewhere in the Central Valley.

Border Patrol did not answer Playbook’s specific questions about the raids, saying only that the agency “conducts targeted enforcement arrests of individuals involved in smuggling throughout our areas of operations as part of our efforts to dismantle transnational criminal organizations.”

Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood told Playbook he got a call from “a supervising Border Patrol agent” who said the agency “would be doing a sweep, and that’s as much information as they shared with me.”

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Agent Gregory K. Bovino said on social media that “child rapists” had been detained in the raids.

The operation hit close to home for some lawmakers and their families. Soria said her sister’s relative, who’s in the country legally, didn’t go to work for a few days. He’s part of a carpool with undocumented farmworkers who opted to stay away during the raids. Hurtado said she worried about her husband being targeted because he’s a green card holder with a heavy accent.

“I think the fear is very real,” said Soria, who grew up with undocumented parents. “I think we are getting a little bit of a glimpse of what may happen once President Trump takes over. Because he was very clear [during] his election, during the campaign, that he was going to make this a top priority.”

Tom Homan, Trump’s incoming border czar, has said “sanctuary” policies that limit cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration agents — such as California’s SB 54 — could prompt federal immigration officials to undertake more community raids because they have very limited access to local jails.

When asked today in Pasadena if amending SB 54 was under consideration, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas said lawmakers “haven't had those discussions when it comes from a legislative perspective.” He went on to talk about the importance of protecting California’s immigrants.

Hurtado suggested she buys into this argument, to some degree, and indicated she might be open to amending SB 54 to allow more cooperation between California law enforcement officers and federal agents.

“I don't know what the exact solution is in terms of cooperating,” Hurtado said. “Maybe it is amending, but I think that first we need to think outside traditional [ways] of thinking, of Trump- proofing, and [we’ve] got to think about all the individuals that came here in search of the American dream.”

— with help from Myah Ward and Emily Schultheis

IT’S THURSDAY AFTERNOON. This is California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check on California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to lholden@politico.com.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

The devastation of the Palisades Fire at sunset in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood.

California lawmakers unveiled legislation aimed at helping Los Angeles County rebuild in the aftermath of devastating wildfires. | Ethan Swope/AP

DEMS PITCH LA RELIEF: Democrats in the Assembly unveiled legislation this morning aimed at helping Los Angeles County rebuild in the aftermath of devastating wildfires that have reduced entire neighborhoods to ashes, our Dustin Gardiner and Emily Schultheis reported.

Standing outside the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, with fire trucks and emergency personnel behind them, about a dozen lawmakers pitched legislation that would fast-track construction of new homes by preventing local governments from enacting additional planning rules and create a definitive timeline for state agencies, such as the powerful Coastal Commission, to approve building permits.

“This is the number one issue we are hearing from Angelenos right now,” Rivas said of the demand for housing from displaced residents. “This is a first step, and it’s only the beginning.”

IN OTHER NEWS...

Sheng Thao speaks at a lectern.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported recalled Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao has been criminally indicted by a grand jury. | Jeff Chiu/AP

INDICTED: Recalled Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao has been criminally indicted by a grand jury after an FBI corruption investigation, the San Francisco Chronicle reports today, citing a source familiar with the matter. The Chron said the charges were unclear but that federal officials will announce the results of a “major law enforcement action” tomorrow morning. FBI agents raided Thao’s home in June.

Former Rep. Barbara Lee, who is running for mayor, called the news “devastating for Oakland” in a statement today.

“While every individual is entitled to constitutional protections and a presumption of innocence,” she said, “this news and the recent recall election underscores the need for a fresh start in Oakland. Every Oaklander deserves a full understanding of the nature of these potential charges, and the parameters of any ongoing or future investigation.”

— with help from Dustin Gardiner

CLAPPING BACK: Speaker Mike Johnson today shared an X post slamming Gov. Gavin Newsom’s own post broadcasting “my message to @SpeakerJohnson.”

Newsom noted in his video post that millions of Johnson and Trump’s supporters live in California.

“They need your help,” he said. “They need your empathy. They need your care. Whatever compassion you can express, as opposed to condemnation and divisive language that has aided and abetted nothing except myths and disinformation that’s flamed fear and flamed a lot of anxiety for folks that are just simply trying to recover.”

Newsom today also sent a letter to Johnson and other congressional leaders urging them to “provide expedited supplemental disaster aid to assist the ongoing response without conditions or prolonged negotiation.”

Johnson, who has suggested attaching policy strings to California wildfire aid, did not take kindly to the video message.

“Instead of making highly produced clap back videos with social media influencers, you should get to work helping Californians,” he said. “You’re the leader of a state in crisis, and you should finally start acting like it.”

This Playbook writer would love to know if the internet slang term “clapback” is a regular part of the speaker’s lexicon.

MONEY ADRIFT: The University of California, Berkeley will not host a planned $125 million partnership between state officials and tech giant Google meant to fund cash-strapped local newsrooms, our Tyler Katzenberger reported this morning.

Elena Conis, acting director of UC Berkeley’s journalism school, told POLITICO yesterday the school “can't serve as a passthrough” for the money, citing administrative reasons. The school’s decision now leaves state lawmakers without a clear venue to host the program and adds further uncertainty to the controversial deal reached with Google last summer, billed as a first-in-the-nation solution to mitigate the impacts of news readership moving online.

But don’t write off the fund — or UC Berkeley — quite yet. Newsom has already budgeted $30 million for the journalism program, and a spokesperson for Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (the lawmaker who negotiated the deal) said Wicks has had “continuing conversations with members of the journalism school in recent months.”

Conis said the university remains “fully committed” to state efforts aimed at infusing money into California newsrooms. — Tyler Katzenberger

WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY

— Trump chose actors Jon Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone to be his “eyes and ears” in Hollywood as “Special Ambassadors.” It’s unclear what the seemingly unprecedented role will entail, but Trump says he will “get done what they suggest.”

— Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil rights to improve care for pregnant patients of color. The agreement comes two months after an agency-led investigation raised concern that “a lower standard of care is provided to Black patients compared to their white counterparts — especially leading up to and during obstetric hemorrhage.” (Los Angeles Times)

AROUND THE STATE

— Sutter Health in Sacramento will begin implementing AI-based technology after reaching a deal with GE HealthCare. The technology could lead to reduced time in MRI scans and allow hospitals to see more patients. (Sacramento Bee)

— City Councilmembers in San Jose — one of the largest cities in California — are asking to review its efforts and financial services for protecting immigrants.

— compiled by Nicole Norman

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