CalMatters
By Wendy Fry, CalMatters
California immigrant advocates and state officials are bracing for what they describe as the likely massive impact of a second Trump presidency on border policies — vowing to fight his plans in court even as they remain uncertain which will make it from the campaign trail to reality.
Trump has pledged to conduct the largest mass deportation campaign in U.S. history on Jan. 20 when he takes office; threatened to impose tariffs on Mexico if it doesn’t stop the northbound flow of migrants and fentanyl; and described plans to use the military as part of his crackdown, contemplating deploying the National Guard to aid in deportations if necessary.
“We’re going to have to seal up those borders, and we’re going to have to let people come into our country,” said the president-elect during his acceptance remarks Tuesday. “We want people to come back in, but we have to, we have to let them come back in, but they have to come in legally.”
Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who argued challenges to immigration restrictions during Trump’s first term, said “Many of the policies Trump is advocating and promising, like use of the military, are illegal and we are prepared to challenge them.” An ACLU “roadmap” on Trump’s reelection described plans to push legislators to block deportations and make cuts to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detention operations. It also envisioned “a civil rights firewall” to protect immigrants and litigation against deportations.
Other organizations have promised to join the fight.
“We believe Trump when he promises to enact disastrous policies that aim to tear families apart, destabilize communities, and weaken our economy,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, CEO and president of Los Angeles-based Immigrant Defenders Law Center.
“But the U.S. Constitution didn’t disappear overnight. We will use all the tools we have to protect and defend the rights of all immigrants and asylum seekers,” she added.
Those planning to fight Trump’s border policy face the strategic challenge of not knowing if or when each of his myriad border-related proposals will be implemented or how feasible and legal they will turn out to be.
But immigrant advocates said the impact from his election will likely be massive. California is home to more immigrants than any other state in the nation,about 10.6 million people, as well as the most unauthorized immigrants, according to 2022 numbers compiled by the Pew Research Center. Immigrants make up more than a fourth of the state’s population, and nearly half of all children in California have at least one immigrant parent.
“If Donald Trump is successful with deportations, no state will be more impacted from a fiscal perspective, from an economic perspective,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a press briefing last week.
“We will use all the tools we have to protect and defend the rights of all immigrants and asylum seekers.” – Lindsay Toczylowski, CEO and president, Immigrant Defenders Law Center
State Attorney General Rob Bonta told CalMatters that his office is prepared to fight, spending the months leading up to the election developing legal strategies.
“The best way to protect California, its values, the rights of our people, is to be prepared so we won’t be flat-footed,” Bonta said days before the election. Bonta’s comments indicate that the state, which sued more than 100 times over Trump’s policies in his first term, will again be a thorn in the president’s side.
Those waiting in Tijuana to cross legally into the United States through CBP One, the federal government’s phone app, worried on Wednesday that their opportunity to seek asylum had already slipped away.
“Sadness,” is what Emir Mesa said she felt when she heard of Trump’s pending victory. The 45-year-old mother and new grandmother from Michoacán said she fled her hometown because of extreme violence there.
“We do not want to enter as illegals,” she said. “That’s why we are here in Tijuana waiting to enter properly, not to be smuggled.” She held her 15-day-old grandchild as she described how her family has been waiting six months at the Movimiento Juventud 2000 migrant shelter, located a stone’s throw from the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trump has said he plans to discontinue the Biden administration’s use of CBP One, through which migrants can apply for asylum in the U.S. But it remains unclear what will happen to people who have already spent months in Mexico on the waiting list for their initial asylum screening appointment.
Impact on U.S. citizens
Trump’s border policies may also have significant impacts on all Californians by disrupting trade and expanding surveillance.
His administration would have to extend the border surveillance apparatus already in place to carry out deportations on the scale he has planned, experts said. Federal authorities have used everything from camera towers to drones to ground sensors and thermal imaging to detect migrants in recent years.
“Given the indiscriminate nature of mass surveillance, it is possible that U.S. citizens and others permanently in the country will also be caught in its web,” said Petra Molnar, a Harvard faculty associate, lawyer and author of the book “The Walls Have Eyes: Surviving Migration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.”
Trump’s plans for the border also seem poised to reverberate across regional economies and in Mexico.
“We aren’t just trading with Mexico, we’re producing together.” – Jerry Sanders, former mayor of san diego and current CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
On Monday, Trump said he plans to impose tariffs on Mexico if the country doesn’t stop the northbound flow of migrants and fentanyl. Local business leaders scoffed as they recalled the damage to the border region’s economy during Trump’s first term. The peso slumped to a two-year low.
“It’s important to remember that we aren’t just trading with Mexico, we’re producing together,” said San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce CEO Jerry Sanders, a Republican and former mayor of the border city. “At the end of the day, this would be a tax on U.S. customers and would likely set off a domino effect of other countries imposing retaliatory measures to protect their own interests.”
A massive deportation campaign clearly would impact California’s economy.
Over half of all California workers are immigrants or children of immigrants, and collectively, the state’s undocumented residents paid nearly $8.5 billion in taxes in 2022, playing a key role in stimulating the state’s economy, according to the California Budget & Policy Center and data estimates from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
This article was originally published by CalMatters.
I can’t resist sharing this quote. I too am in a position to revel in the circus that will burn down — but I detest it.
“It’s a more sophisticated swamp, but it’s crazy. I’ve never seen anything like this. You’ve got all these jamokes from Florida, who have barely ever seen Washington, D.C., talking about how they’re moving up here. People are trying to hire relatives,” said one person who has been observing the spectacle for days. “You go to the club and run into all these creatures.”
“Names are being thrown out all over the place. There isn’t really a functional process — it’s really whoever he just decides to name,” said one person involved.
Others have expressed increasing concerns about the ability of Howard Lutnick, CEO of Wall Street giant Cantor Fitzgerald, to manage the transition while simultaneously fighting his own internal battle for an appointment as Trump’s treasury secretary, said one Trump adviser.
“It’s hard to argue that a Putin apologist who is friends with Assad represents conservative foreign policy. It’s hard to argue that someone who wants to get rid of fluoride in your water and favors abortion for all nine months is a conservative family pick,” said Marc Short, a longtime adviser to Pence, referring to Gabbard and Kennedy, respectively, before saying that the Gaetz choice “makes a mockery of the whole Department of Justice — which could be what Trump wants to do — but it’s not really advancing law and order.”
Cheung dismissed Short’s comments as criticism from “people on the outside who have no idea what they are talking about and they represent the establishment political class.”
And so much more!
free link if you’re interested:
https://wapo.st/3YSe0zd
It will be the greatest grift in the history of the USA. Remember that if someone worth a billion or hundreds of millions accepts a cabinet level post they can sell their holdings off tax deferred
Corruption, corruption, corruption.
Absolutely! As is said, this is just the tip of the iceberg and it simply is going to get worse and worse. I really hope the next four years goes by fast.
“Why do we support a government that reinforces and supports those who choose to break the law?”
Great question! Why do you support a self admitted and adjudicated sexual assaulter and convicted felon to be the leader of that government?
Come on, answer it. You elected a convicted criminal and seriously ask this question? Jesus, I honestly can’t think of anything dumber than this.
DOULIE – give it a try. You’ve never once, not once answered a question here. Well, at least not directly.
The people have spoken.
Unfortunately, the ignorant spoke loudest.
The Sadness is the Democrats and their media enablers are trying to make sense of last Tuesday’s election – the biggest shift to the right since Ronald Reagan became president in 1980 – searching for where they went wrong.
The main disconnect is that they fail to acknowledge that tens of millions of Americans actually like Donald Trump; many even love him. Democrats are so blinded by hatred they literally cannot fathom that Trump is personally popular.
Despite Trump’s past, voters acknowledge the Biden administration weaponizing the government to degrade president Trump, which failed miserably only galvanizing support.
He is a patriot and will do what it takes to benefit hard working Americans, and the voters agreed.
Regarding mass deportations, allowing criminals to walk free is dangerous; even the voters in ultra-liberal Southern California agree and booted progressive DA George Gascon in a landslide. Common-sense voters chose Donald Trump to stop the progressive nonsense, like prioritizing DEI practices in the military, and he will.
Liberals cannot comprehend that Trump is authentic. You may not like what he says, but it’s pretty clear that he is telling you what he thinks. Polling showed that voters thought Trump meant what he said; that was not true for Kamala Harris.
“Democrats are so blinded by hatred they literally cannot fathom that Trump is personally popular.” – Nah, it’s not that. It’s that we’re saddened that so many think a racist sex assaulter who was impeached twice and convicted of felonies is a good person. It goes against all the values we were taught (and hopefully you were taught) to hold dear.
It’s sadness really, not hate. Although I do, completely hate those who discriminate/hate others for the way they were born. I’m a proud hater of bigots.
Your comments read like outlier data points from “The strategic role of language abstraction in achieving symbolic and practical goals.” I love watching research results replicated in realtime on the internet. lol
SURFGOOSE – not sure what about my comment is not unequivocal or in any way “abstract.” I’m pretty straight forward about my feelings on this topic.
So many words. All you need to say is “Proud to be a sucker.”
Trump is a con man and you bought it.
Will you continue to call Trump a “con man” once you begin benefitting from his work on behalf of all Americans?
LOL Doulie.
a.). I will benefit. I know that and I’ve stated it repeatedly in the past. I know that’s hard for you.
b.). Yep, he is a con man. Always has been and always will be. The fact that he is going to soak the lower and middle classed with continued tax benefit for the 3% and above revenue earners in this country (me) while pandering to the desperation and fear of those less fortunate than me is one of the greatest cons this country has ever seen.
c.). I’ve known who and what Trump is since the 90’s. I made my money in Hollywood in the early to late 2000s during The Apprentice and I am one degree away from him via my peers.
d.). You better hydrate so you can bootlick the billionaires for the next four years.
I’m with you!
Doulie, I’ll never stop criticizing tRump. Any increase in my dividends allow me to give more to my elderly friend and pay for health care, specifically women’s care, for more people. And to donate to causes that fight tRump in the courts and to give to Unity Shoppe and other local support systems.
DOULIE – “on behalf of all Americans?” Dude, do you not read the news or know anything about America? He’s about to appoint Representative Lee Zeldin to head the EPA. That guy voted against the Clean Air Act. Now explain who “all Americans” will benefit from an environment that is no longer protected?
How clueless are you people? Like seriously, do you all do anything other than taking selfies in your trucks with sunglasses and baseball caps on?
Sac – I’m a part of the millions of Americans that presented a mandate to Trump, meaning I support his policies & everything he said he was going to do. And yes, I read where Zeldin was picked to lead the EPA. I believe the garbage truck photo Trump used in context with the “garbage” comment by Biden was outstanding.
DOOLY – it’s hardly a “mandate.” Trump received only 50% of the popular vote, in which only 64% of Americans actually voted.
You can do the math.
The people have spoken. Running people down does nothing but shoot yourself in the foot.
House, Senate, POTUS & Popular vote . .. America HAS spoken.
Well, less than 51% of the 64% of America that voted has spoken. Not really a mandate there LOL
KA – If people “liked” Trump, he wouldn’t have to run every campaign as a referendum on the other side. Even Trump supporters admit they don’t “like” him; they have just been convinced that “woke” (a lightning rod that no one seems to know what it is, but they’re against it) is so scary they even vote for a man they dislike. What happens when prices don’t come down (and they won’t), and all of his other vague generalities don’t happen. Will they admit they were duped, or just double down?
The plan seems to be to deport hardened, convicted criminals and terrorists. I see nothing wrong with that.
ANON – then why is he saying they’re going to deport millions? There’s not that many “terrorists” (if any) or convicted criminals that are illegally here. He’s very clear – he plans to deport ALL undocumented immigrants.
Many more citizens in that category than immigrants.