Undocumented Immigrants

For California under Gov. Gavin Newsom, the resistance to President Donald Trump is about health care.

Much as his predecessor Jerry Brown made climate change the state’s big challenge to Trump, Newsom has embarked on a health agenda that includes extending care to undocumented adults and direct government negotiation of drug prices.

Unlike the other 2020 candidates pushing universal health care, Newsom’s policies aren’t just theoretical Washington talk, so there’s much more at risk. If his innovations in expanding Obamacare, extending Medicaid to undocumented immigrants — itself a jab at Trump’s hard-line immigration policies — and negotiating lower drug prices work, he could emerge as a hero of the Democratic Party. His policies could be templates for candidates pushing ahead on universal health care — an aspiration shared by Democrats even if they are still divided on what specific policies to pursue and how quickly to pursue them. …

Click here to read the full article from Politico

Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill Thursday that would have allowed immigrants in the U.S. illegally to serve on state and local boards and commissions.

Brown said he believed “existing law — which requires citizenship for these forms of public service — is the better path,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

California state Sen. Ricardo Lara and Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo, both Democrats, introduced the legislation.

The bill would have struck the phrase “transient aliens” from the government code, which first appeared in an 1872 provision to prevent mainly Chinese immigrants from holding civil positions, according to the LA Times.

California has taken some of the most progressive stances and is at the epicenter of the left’s battle against the Trump administration’s immigration policies. …

Click here to read the full article from The Hill