(The Center Square) – U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., reiterated the state’s commitment to continued funding for the deportation defense of migrants and undocumented immigrants.
President-elect Donald Trump’s promised mass deportations could have a major impact on California, which hosts approximately 2.7 million undocumented immigrants.
“If it’s legal assistance, legal advice, legal support, that’s just the California way,” Padilla said when asked if the state would fund legal defenses of undocumented immigrants facing deportation. “We embrace our diversity. Our diversity has made our communities thrive and our economy thrive.”
Given the state’s looming deficits, Republicans wondered whether such funds would be better spent elsewhere.
“The idea that we would use our tax dollars to defend criminal illegal immigrants is outrageous,” said State Assemblyman Bill Essayli, R-Corona, on X. “How about we use that money to support the victims of the crimes committed by illegal immigrants?”
California already funds legal services for undocumented immigrants, including a separate fund solely for deportation defense, including $24 million in grants last year solely for deportation defense, and $37 million in grants this year for a wide range of other immigration-related legal services for legal and undocumented immigrants.
Under current guidelines, individuals who have been convicted for, or are currently appealing conviction of a violent or serious felony are ineligible for state-funded deportation defense.
Last year, former Assemblyman Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer Sr. proposed ending the ban on deportation defense for high-level felons. He also proposed allowing these funds to be used for providing “relief that vacates, eliminates, or reduces a criminal record, conviction, or sentence that may have adverse immigration consequences.”
The failed bill would have tied in with the 2022 Racial Justice Act, which allows undocumented immigrants to petition to overturn convictions if said convictions will result in “adverse immigration consequences,” as many higher-level felonies result in deportation orders.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s special legislative session to fund lawsuits challenging the coming Trump administration starts today.
California’s state-funded legislative review agency found the state has no capacity for new spending commitments and faces annual deficits rising to $30 billion. It’s unclear if the state plans on increasing deportation defense funding, and how it would fund a program expansion.