California Governor Gavin Newsom spent last week walking a political tightrope, seeking much-needed funds from the federal government on the one hand, and passing legislation meant to block President Trump’s agenda on the other. On Wednesday, Newsom went to the White House to ask for disaster relief aid after wildfires destroyed large swathes of Los Angeles last month, incinerating over 17,000 structures and killing at least 29 people. He later said that his meeting with the president was “incredibly productive,” and told CNN he has “all the confidence in the world that it’s going to be a strong partnership moving forward.”
Back in his home state on Friday, Newsom signed into law a pair of bills meant to blunt Trump’s stated plans to deport over 10 million undocumented migrants. One allocates $25 million dollars to the state Department of Justice in order to fight the federal government in court, while another distributes the same amount among legal aid groups defending migrants facing possible deportation. The bills’ passage reflects the harder line that Newsom toed in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s win last November, stating just days after the election that California legislators should “safeguard California values and fundamental rights in the face of an incoming Trump administration.”
Governor Newsom also included a signing statement with the bill meant to assuage Republican concerns about funds going to aid migrants with criminal histories, writing that “none of the funding in this bill is intended to be used for immigration-related legal services for noncitizens convicted of serious or violent felonies.” California also has sanctuary city laws on the books since 2017 that limit local law enforcement’s compliance with federal authorities on immigration enforcement.
The New York Times notes that when signing the pair of bills into law on Friday, Newsom did so without any press or cameras present.
The California governor has good reason to maintain a delicate balance with Trump, as the president has infamously conditioned disaster relief aid to political allegiance in the past. An investigation from Politico revealed that when California was suffering from another major wildfire in 2018, White House aides had to show the president voter data demonstrating that a significant number of Trump voters had been affected in Orange County despite it being a Democratic-leaning state, and only then did he release federal aid funds. That fire killed over a hundred people and destroyed over 24,000 structures.
