Gov. Gavin Newsom is scheduled to visit the California-Mexico border in San Diego County on Thursday to make announcements on cross-border commerce and border security.
A press conference is scheduled for noon. Details about the announcement were not immediately available.
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The Washington Post reports that the governor has asked the Biden administration to help secure more federal funding to complete a new port of entry for San Diego County before President Trump takes office in January. It is believed that this will happen. Citing aides, the newspaper reported that Newsom’s announcement included an update on road construction to the new Otay Mesa East Port of Entry.
State officials say the project will boost job growth and economic opportunity on both sides of the border, reduce wait times for cars and trucks, and improve the movement of goods and services at the border. It is expected.
California has several land ports of entry, including San Ysidro, the largest land border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana and the fourth busiest in the world. Otay Mesa, the second largest port of entry between Mexico and the United States. West and East Calexico and Andrade in Imperial County.
In March, Newsom visited the border and touted the deployment of the California National Guard to stem the flow of illegal drugs, including fentanyl. The 2023 operation resulted in the seizure of a record 62,000 pounds of fentanyl, according to the governor’s office.
The deployment of the California National Guard expanded throughout the state in June, including at ports of entry along the border.
The visit comes after Newsom and state lawmakers returned to the state Capitol on Monday to begin a special legislative session to protect the state’s progressive policies ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. The Democratic governor has been fiercely critical of President-elect Trump.
While many Southern California elected officials sidestepped NBC Los Angeles’ questions, some California Democrats began voicing their opinions. Conan Nolan reports on NBC4 News on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024 at 5 p.m.
“We look forward to working with the incoming administration and wishing President Trump success in serving the American people,” Newsom said in a statement announcing the special session. “But when there are excesses, when lives are threatened, when rights and freedoms are targeted, we take action.”
Newsom called on Congress to pass additional funding for the attorney general’s office to prepare for legal battles over expected federal challenges. Democrats hold supermajorities in both chambers in Sacramento and in every statewide office.
Legislation has already been introduced to protect national policies on abortion access, civil rights, climate change, and immigration.
California sued the first Trump administration more than 120 times, with varying degrees of success.
Trump, who called the Democratic governor a “newscam” during the Southern California campaign shutdown, has frequently pointed out the nation’s most populous state’s shortcomings, including issues around immigration and border security.
Hundreds of people demonstrated around the U.S. Capitol during a special session of Congress over the Trump administration’s mass deportation plan. Soum held a banner that read, “I oppose every penny of mass deportation” and “MAGA out of California.”
State Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office protects the state’s immigrant population.
Republican lawmakers criticized Newsom and his Democratic allies over the special session. State Sen. Kelly Sejjárt, a Republican who represents Murrieta in Southern California, said she expects a more adversarial relationship with the federal government this Congress.
“What we’re doing today is sending that very message that we’re going to fight tooth and nail, no matter what. And you know what? It means fighting tooth and nail,” Sejjarto said of the proposed bill.
Newsom did not provide details about what lawmakers would consider, but said he hoped to have the money ready by Jan. 20, the day Trump was inaugurated. State officials say the state spent about $42 million in legal fees during the first Trump administration.
California is expected to face a $2 billion budget deficit next year, with even larger deficits to come. Gabriel, who sued the first Trump administration in 2017 for trying to end a program that protected young immigrants from deportation, said raising money now is a “smart investment.”
California won a lawsuit to prevent the Trump administration from imposing immigration enforcement conditions on certain federal law enforcement grants, recovering $57 million from 2017 to 2018. Another legal victory over citizenship issues in the 2020 census forces the federal government to repay $850,000 to the state, according to the attorney general’s office.
During Trump’s first presidency, Democratic attorneys general banded together to file lawsuits over immigration, Trump’s travel ban on residents of Muslim countries, the environment, immigration, and more. But this time, Trump has one possible advantage. One of his key initiatives was the active appointment of conservative lawyers to all levels of federal courts, including the Supreme Court.
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