California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed laws Friday setting aside $50 million to help the state protect its policies from challenges by the Trump administration and defend immigrants amid the president's mass-deportation plans.
One of the laws allocates $25 million for the state Department of Justice to fight legal battles against the federal government, and another sets aside $25 million in part for legal groups to defend immigrants facing possible deportation. During his first presidency, Trump sparred with California over climate laws, water policy, immigrant rights and more, and the state filed or joined more than 100 legal actions against the administration. The same fights are reemerging in the early days of Trump's second term.
“Californians are being threatened by an out-of-control administration that doesn’t care about the Constitution and thinks there are no limits to its power,” said Democratic Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, in a statement earlier this week. “That is why we are delivering legislation that will allocate resources to defend Californians from this urgent threat.”
The move comes a day after the Democratic governor returned from Washington, where he met with Trump and members of Congress to try to secure federal disaster aid for the devastating Los Angeles-area wildfires that ripped through neighborhoods in January, killing more than two dozen people.
Newsom signed a $2.5 billion package for fire relief into law last month to help fund the state’s disaster response including evacuations, sheltering survivors and removing household hazardous waste. His administration has said they expect the federal government to reimburse the state.
Republican lawmakers have criticized the funding for lawsuits, saying the focus on Trump is distracting as the Los Angeles area recovers from the fires.
“This slush fund isn’t about solving any real problems — it’s a political stunt designed to distract from the urgent issues our state faces and it won’t bode well for fire victims,” Republican Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones said in a statement earlier this week.
Critics have also said the legislation doesn’t ensure that funding wouldn’t be used to defend immigrants without legal status who have been convicted of serious felonies.
After signing the funding into law, Newsom said the money wasn't intended to be used for that purpose, and he encouraged lawmakers to pass subsequent legislation if clarifying that is needed. He said in a statement that the funding will assist legal groups in “safeguarding the civil rights of California’s most vulnerable residents.”
Newsom announced the plan to safeguard the state's policies days after Trump’s election in November. He convened the Legislature in a special session to pass the bills.
The state is used to taking the federal government to court over Trump actions.
California sued the Republican president's administration more than 120 times during his first term, according to the attorney general’s office. The state spent about $42 million overall on legal battles against the federal government, ranging from around $2 million to nearly $13 million a year.
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