Almost a quarter of the country’s foreign born population lives in California, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
President Trump signed dozens of executive orders on his first day in office, and several of them are directed at immigrants.
“We know that this administration released a slate of executive orders designed to cause chaos and confusion among the public,” said Eva Bitran, the immigrant rights director at American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.
Eva Bitran, immigrant rights director for American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Sacramento. (Gerardo Zavala/CapRadio)(Gerardo Zavala/CapRadio)
The ACLU is already suing over one of those orders, along with 22 states — including California.
The order attempts to end birthright citizenship, which is enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu is involved with one of two lawsuits against the measure and said at a press conference with California Attorney General Rob Bonta that the order will create a multi-generational underclass.
“These children will not be able to naturalize or obtain citizenship from another country,” he said. “They will live under constant threat of deportation, and as they age, they won’t be able to work lawfully or vote. They will have limited ability to travel and will be challenged in accessing health care.”
The order is set to take effect in 30 days. Bonta said he’s aiming for an injunction on the order for now and expects it to ultimately go to the Supreme Court.
UC Davis Law Professor Kevin Johnson told CapRadio’s Vicki Gonzalez on Insight that the high court will likely strike the order down.
“If he ends up losing in the Supreme Court, as he has in the past, he will say, ‘the Supreme Court stopped me from delivering on my promise to you. It’s not my fault,’” Johnson said.
Bitran with the ACLU said they’re still sussing out what the impact will be of new immigration policies in California: “How exactly this mass deportation machine is being put into effect, where it's most vulnerable to challenge, and how we can protect our communities.”
Another executive order signed by the President proclaims a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border. Still more orders designate criminal cartels as terrorists, suspend refugee resettlement and direct the military to intervene with migration.
Bonta said his team is looking into the dozens of other orders the President signed and could sue in response to them, too.
Follow us for more stories like this
CapRadio provides a trusted source of news because of you. As a nonprofit organization, donations from people like you sustain the journalism that allows us to discover stories that are important to our audience. If you believe in what we do and support our mission, please donate today.
Donate Today
