The year 2004 ended, and as the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump as the next President of the United States draws closer, California, like countries such as Mexico, Panama, and Canada, finds itself in the crosshairs of Trump’s policies.
Climate change, an issue that California leaders and activists have fought for so long, is now threatened by initiatives from Trump’s team. Immigration is another battleground. Many California cities, as well as the state, have declared their opposition to threats of mass deportations and have denied any support to federal authorities. This, in addition to issues like gun safety measures, healthcare programs, and abortion rights, clashes with the policies favored by Californians.
In the collective imagination, Trump is seen as a kind of anti-Christ who will bring chaos and much pain, not only to the country but to certain regions of the world. One of the politicians who will take on leadership in this fight is Ron Bonta, the state’s attorney general.
California was considered a leader in fighting the most extreme policies of Donald Trump’s first administration, and after the Republican’s decisive win, officials in the Golden State say they are more prepared to resist Trump’s expected agenda for his second term. Bonta will be a crucial figure in that effort, tasked with spearheading litigation and defending vulnerable Californians’ rights in the courtroom.
In previous interviews, Bonta has said that his office is ready on every front.
“I know a lot of people are anxious and worried, concerned, fearful, angry, sad,” said the Democrat, who now occupies the seat previously held by Kamala Harris. “I’m not happy with the results, but I’m energized and ready to fight … I’m ready to do my job, lean in hard, punch back, push back, and fight back against any attacks from the Trump administration on California’s ongoing progress.”
Bonta’s efforts could have a significant impact in the most populous and diverse state in the U.S., home to the fifth-largest economy in the world and considered a leader on progressive policies.
In Trump’s first term, Bonta recalled, California successfully fought Trump’s “public charge” rule, which sought to block green cards for immigrants who accessed certain benefits, such as food stamps. The state also sued to prevent Trump from denying funds to sanctuary cities and helped stop the former president’s effort to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program that protects immigrants who entered the U.S. unauthorized as children.
“Trump has a very difficult time resisting the temptation to violate the law,” said Bonta, adding that he expected the president-elect to once again use executive action to make changes that require congressional action. “If he wanted to take a blowtorch to the Affordable Care Act and end it on day one by executive order … he can’t do it.” Trump recently said he had “concepts of a plan” to replace the popular Obama-era program that expanded healthcare coverage, and his victory has raised alarms among public health advocates.
Bonta said he had been in discussions with attorneys general across the U.S. – sharing briefs, memos, and knowledge from their fights during Trump’s first term – and they were ready to coordinate lawsuits as needed: “It’s all hands on deck, use every tool that you have. Litigation will certainly be one of the most potent and powerful ones.”
“We’ve been preparing for months, in some cases years,” he continued. After Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, his staff wrote a legal brief to challenge a national abortion ban, a draft he has ready, if necessary. His staff has also monitored comments by Trump’s inner circle and reviewed Project 2025, the right-wing blueprint for his second term drafted by Trump’s allies.
“We’ve got a lot in our back pocket ready to drop,” he said. “In some [cases], the whole strategy is thought through – the court we file in, when we file it, based on what action the Trump administration takes. We’ve just got to dot the I’s and cross the T’s and press print. But we are very far along, very advanced in our preparation.”
Trump has threatened unprecedented mass deportations, an agenda that was partially thwarted in his first term by California and other blue states that passed sanctuary laws limiting local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration agents. California Democrats will face pressure from immigrant rights groups to expand those sanctuary policies, which advocates say are not currently the strongest in the nation. California prisons, for example, continue to coordinate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which helps drive deportations, but Governor Gavin Newsom has previously vetoed efforts to prevent cooperation with ICE.
Bonta said officials should be exploring ways to “reinforce and strengthen” the existing sanctuary law, though he didn’t offer specifics.
Write a Reply or Comment
You should Sign In or Sign Up account to post comment.