California Gov. Newsom slams Republicans for blocking immigration reform on visit to Mexican border
IMPERIAL COUNTY — While visiting a state-funded migrant center that provides services to asylum seekers near the Imperial County border with Mexico on Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized Republicans in Congress for politicizing immigration while failing to support comprehensive reforms.
Due to the lack of federal support, the governor said the state has spent nearly $1 billion working with nonprofits to provide immigrants released from federal detention with health screenings, temporary shelter and help connecting with sponsors over the last three years at nine facilities in Imperial, San Diego and Riverside counties.
“With the respect to the federal government, we’ve been doing their job for the last few years at scale,” Newsom said. “But we cannot continue to absorb that responsibility.”
The governor visited the center before he finalizes his budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year. The state faces financial pressure of an anticipated budget deficit and, at the same time, a potentially greater need for immigrant support services under changes to federal policy for asylum seekers, he said.
“Everyone needs to get off their ideological perch and start dealing with the reality in a comprehensive manner,” Newsom said. He criticized the GOP and conservative news pundits for exploiting immigration as strictly a border security issue and ignoring the need for sweeping reform.
In November, a federal judge struck down a controversial border policy known as Title 42, a public health law used by the Trump administration during the COVID-19 pandemic to allow border agents to expel migrants.
Newsom, who crossed the border earlier in the day to visit a Mexicali shelter, made the trip as he continues his push into the national conversation on issues at the center of America’s culture wars, elevating his profile as a preeminent Democratic voice and heightening speculation about his political aspirations.
Dan Schnur, who teaches political communication at USC and UC Berkeley, said all governors with a significant immigrant population should have a voice in the debate. In California, immigrants make up one-third of the labor force.
Governors with an eye on the White House may have an added incentive, he said.
“This is another example of how Newsom can both support Biden for reelection, but also set himself up for a national role further down the line,” Schnur said.
Newsom applauded President Biden for introducing an immigration reform package early on in his presidency and centered his criticism on Congress for not appropriating more money to support migrants.
The state began funding services in 2019 for immigrants arriving in California after the Trump administration ended a program that sought to connect asylum seekers with family members in the United States, the governor’s office said.
“It was based upon conversations I had on the campaign trail with people saying, ‘We’re dropping kids off at the Greyhound bus station alone at night, and they’re sleeping on the street,’” Newsom said, adding that the lack of government support also left children and families vulnerable to human trafficking.
In response to the COVID-19 crisis, the state expanded its efforts in 2021 and began working with nonprofit organizations to fund facilities that provide immigrants with health screenings; COVID-19 and flu vaccinations; and basic supports, such as clothing and toothbrushes. The governor’s office said the three counties have served over 200,000 migrants and provided 36,316 vaccinations.
Some of the facilities provide temporary housing and nonprofits work with immigrants to help them set up travel connections to more permanent destinations, or relocate them to local shelters.
Workers at the center on Monday said ICE buses migrants to ports of entry, and the state and nonprofits then transport them to the facilities. Immigrants took seats in a large room, where they received health screenings and talked with staff about other pressing needs.
Pedro Rios, the director of the U.S.-Mexico border program at the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization that advocates for immigrants, said that the funding from the state had helped support a “small, but robust” shelter network in San Diego County.
The shelter system has helped families transition “from a state of vulnerability to having greater security.”
“Through these efforts, many migrant families have received the medical care and legal support they wouldn’t otherwise have access to,” he said in an email.
Kate Clark, senior director of immigration services at the Jewish Family Service of San Diego, said she believes that California, along with other border states, will see an increase in the number of immigrants arriving in the region after the lifting of Title 42.
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