California approves US $ 50 million to protect immigrants and defend the State before the Trump administration

AP
–

The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, signed laws that reserve US $ 50 million to help the State protect their policies from the Trump administration challenges and defend immigrants amid the mass deportation plans of the US president .Uu.

One of the laws assigns US $ 25 million to the State Justice Department to fight legal battles against the federal government, and another reserve US $ 25 million in part for legal groups to defend immigrants who face a possible deportation.

During his first presidency, Trump maintained a confrontation with California about climatic laws, water policy, immigrants and more rights, and the State presented or joined more than 100 legal actions against the Federal Administration. The same fights are resurfaceing in the first days of Trump’s second term.

“The Californians are being threatened by an out of control administration that does not care about the Constitution and thinks that there are no limits to their power,” said the president of the Assembly, Democrat Robert Rivas, in a statement earlier this week . “That is why we are presenting legislation that will assign resources to defend the Californians of this urgent threat.”

The measure occurs a day after the Democratic governor returned from Washington, where he met with Trump and members of the Congress to try to ensure federal aid for the disasters caused by the devastating forest fires of the Los Angeles area that swept neighborhoods in January, killing more than twenty people.

Newsom last month promulgated a package for US $ 2.5 billion to help finance the state’s response to the catastrophe, which includes evacuations, refuge for survivors and elimination of hazardous household waste. His administration has said that he expects the federal government to reimburse the State.

Republican legislators have criticized the financing of the demands, saying that the Trump approach is distracting while the Los Angeles area is recovering from the fires.

“This fund is not to solve real problems, it is a political trick designed to distract the attention of the urgent problems facing our state and is not a good omen for the victims of fires,” said the leader of the Republican minority in the Senate, Brian Jones, in a statement earlier this week.

Some critics have also said that legislation does not guarantee that funds will not be used to defend immigrants without legal status that have been convicted of serious crimes.

After signing financing in the law, Newsom said the money was not intended to be used for that purpose, and encouraged legislators to approve subsequent legislation if necessary to clarify it. He said in a statement that financing will help legal groups to “safeguard the civil rights of the most vulnerable residents of California.”

Newsom announced the plan to safeguard State policies days after Trump’s election in November. He summoned the legislature in a special session to approve the bills.

The State is used to bringing the Federal Government to the courts for Trump’s measures.

California sued the administration of the Republican President more than 120 times during his first term, according to the Office of the Attorney General. The State spent around US $ 42 million in total in legal battles against the Federal Government, ranging from around US $ 2 million and almost US $ 13 million a year.