California legislators take action to protect immigrants from Trump policies

Sacramento – California legislators have announced several bills to protect state immigrants targeted by new aggressive policies by President Trump, including federal law enforcement in schools, hospitals and religious buildings.

The members of the influential Latin American legislative caucus, made up of 35 Democratic legislators, announced the proposals to protect undocumented immigrants from their main priorities during the next session.

“It is regrettable that at the national level, we note deliberate efforts to crush our economy, expel our communities and continue to mean our Latin American communities, and these bills are efforts to fight against all of this,” said state senator Lena Gonzalez on Tuesday (D-Long Beach), Caucus, during a new conference.

The legislative package included Bill 1261 of the Assembly by the member of the Assembly MIA BONTA (D-ALAMEDA), who would establish a right to legal representation for unaccompanied children in federal immigration legal proceedings.

In March, the Trump administration ended a federal contract which ensures legal representation at nearly 26,000 migrant children who entered the country without parent or tutor. The decision was criticized for immigration lawyers, who said that it would leave children, many of whom do not read or speak English or are too young to read or speak at all, vulnerable to rapid expulsion.

A federal judge in northern California ordered the Trump administration last week to temporarily restore legal funding for migrant children to the immigration court.

A separate bill from Gonzalez, SB 48, would expand existing laws and obliges school officials to refuse federal immigration officials access to school files and school reasons without a legal mandate. It also prevents local police from working with US immigration and customs officials near the school.

“California’s resources and school spaces should be devoted to the education of young minds and should never be used to tear families,” said Gonzalez, adding that immigration actions around schools cause a scary effect on school attendance.

The legislation proposed by senator Sasha Renée Péréz (D-Alhambra), SB 98, would force schools and universities to inform students, staff and parents when immigration agents are on campus.

“This bill will give our communities the tranquility of mind that they deserve while maintaining the commitment of the State according to which schools are safe places,” said Renée Perréz.

The other legislation proposed to protect immigrants included:

• SB 81, sponsored by Senator Jesse Arreguín (D-Berkeley) requires that health care providers refuse access to ice to non-public areas and refuse the disclosure of the immigration status of a patient without a mandate.
• AB 421, sponsored by José Luis Solache Jr. assembly (D-Lynwood) would prohibit the police from working with or providing information to the application of immigration within a kilometer from day care establishments, places of worship and medical offices.
• The SB 635, sponsored by senator María Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles), would prevent street vendor licensees from demanding fingerprints or asking candidates their immigration or criminal history.
• The SB 294, sponsored by Senator Eloise Gómez Reyes (D-COLTON), would oblige employers to display an opinion to inform employees of their work and their civil rights when they interact with the police at work and to inform the emergency contact of the employee if they are arrested or detained.

The Trump administration said in January that it would allow the application of immigration to arrest in “sensitive places” such as schools, places of worship and hospitals, sites protected against ice in the past 30 years.

“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in American schools and churches to avoid an arrest. The Trump administration will not bind the hands of our courageous laws, and will trust them to use common sense,” a spokesman for the Ministry of Internal Security in a January statement announcing the change of policy.

Aside from the questions related to immigrants, the packet of legislation supported by the Latin Caucus included a bill to prevent silicosis, a permanent pulmonary disease caused by the inhalation of silica dust in stones manufacturing workplaces, through education and workers’ safety regulations.

SB 20 sponsor, Senator Caroline Menjivar (D-Panorama City), said that 98% of people diagnosed with silicosis since 2019 were Latinos and that almost all were men, according to the dashboard of state silicosis.

The Caucus has also reaffirmed a promise to maintain funding from Medi-Cal, the state health care program which provides 15 million low-income Californians and has exceeded billions of estimates since last summer. Governor Gavin Newsom asked the legislature last month to approve an additional $ 2.8 billion until June to support the program, which opened up registrations for immigrants, regardless of residence status.

The price increase in the program was not to be blamed on immigrants and the Latin community, Gonzalez said at the press conference. Legislators are rather seeking to understand other contributory factors, such as the increase in drug costs and long -term care.

“We have to talk about these things in the full story,” she said.