State Senator Lena Gonzalez’ mother was an immigrant from Aguascalientes, Mexico who lived in Tijuana for a while before she made her way into the country at age 8.
“She came here knowing that there was a better life in the U.S.,” says the Senate Majority Leader.
Her mother became naturalized in the 1980s and instilled in Gonzalez a belief that is more important today than ever: “whether you’re documented or not, you still have value.”
That’s why she’s doing her part to protect and defend them against the unrelenting attacks from the Trump Administration.
This year, the representative from the 33 District encompassing Long Beach, Lakewood, Signal Hill, and Catalina Island has introduced SB 48 and SB 12. SB 48 protects children’s right to a safe education, regardless of immigration status by prohibiting school districts, county offices of education, or charter schools and their workers from granting immigration agents permission to access a school campus without a warrant.
“We want to make sure that schools are abiding by the Sanctuary State Law,” says Gonzalez.
SB 12, which she’s been working on for three years, would establish an Immigrant and Refugee Affairs Agency to coordinate the state’s response in terms of immigrants and enhance support for immigrant communities in California.
“Every agency should have an immigration liaison or someone that handles immigration issues, such as the DMV, to make sure we keep extending driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants,” she notes.
The measures build on the protections included in SB 54, the so-called “Sanctuary State Law” that was passed during Trump’s first Administration and limit cooperation between state and local law enforcement and federal immigration agents.
The bills are necessary now more than ever, given “these are unprecedented times.”
“We’re all afraid,” admits Gonzalez. “Donald Trump is very clear that he’d rather deport people than find comprehensive immigration reform.”
“He would rather separate families than find a way to welcome hard working immigrants who are contributing to our economy,” she adds.
A 2024 study by California Lutheran University found that 1.6 million undocumented workers created 1.25 million jobs and contribute more than $151 billion to the state’s economy, about 5% of the state’s GDP. They also generated more than $77 billion in tax revenue in 2019.
“They provide for our tax base,” says Gonzalez.
“They’re grocery workers, farm workers, construction workers; they keep our economy running.”
Given the threats to this community, Gonzalez vows to keep fighting to defend them.
“California is going to keep fighting. I’m going to keep fighting as the daughter of an immigrant,” she says. “We’re going to keep showing that immigrants matter and that they need support and we’re going to protect these families.”
“If we don’t, children aren’t going to show up for school, we’re not going to have people working and being productive and that doesn’t help society,” Gonzalez adds.
She says the state and the Democratic legislature keep fighting amid uncertainty around the state budget.
“We don’t know how much federal aid will be cut,” she notes.
“They’re taking away MediCal, Social Security, increasing prices on consumers with tariffs, which hurts our economy. We are doing as much as we can, even with this uncertainty, protecting our schools, ensuring we have support systems and safety net systems for our residents.”
Standing by while all this happens is not an option, especially when it comes to children born in the U.S. to undocumented parents or those in mixed status families.
“They are U.S. citizens by the Constitution and our laws. Oftentimes, they (politicians) don’t think about what it means for these children who get left behind or are deported with their parents,” Gonzalez says.
“We need to be very clear; tearing apart families is not the way to go about it.”
Immigrants provide a lot of value to our society, economy, and culture. Defending them is the right thing to do and something that Gonzalez vows to do.
“We’re going to continue to keep fighting,” she says. “We have no other choice but to do that.”
