undocumented

On an overcast morning in September, Hector Alessandro Negrete left his beloved Los Angeles — the city he was brought to at 3 months old — and headed down Interstate 5 to Mexico, the only country where he held a passport.

It was a place that, to him, had “always felt like both a wound and a possibility.”

Negrete, 43, sat in the passenger seat as a friend steered the car south and two more friends in another car followed. He had condensed his life to three full suitcases and his dachshund mix, Lorca.

They pulled over at the beach in San Clemente. Angel Martinez, his soon-to-be former roommate, is deeply spiritual, and his favorite prayer spot is the ocean, so he prayed that Negrete would be blessed and protected — and Lorca too — as they began a new stage in their lives.

On the near-empty beach, the friends embraced and wiped away tears. Martinez handed Negrete a small watermelon.

As instructed, Negrete walked to the edge of the water, said his own prayer and, as a gift of thanks to the cosmos, plopped it into a crashing wave.

Negrete, holding a drink, embraces his friend Angel Martinez as they visit a drag club in Tijuana after leaving Los Angeles a day earlier.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Negrete doesn’t call it self-deportation.

“Self-repatriation,” he said. “I refuse to use this administration’s language.”

President Trump had been in office just over a month when Negrete decided he would return to Mexico. Methodical by nature, he approached the decision like any other — by researching, organizing and planning.

Negrete secured three forms of Mexican identification: his voter credential, a renewed passport and a card akin to a Social Security ID.

He registered Lorca as an emotional support animal, paid for a vaccine card and a certificate of good health, and crate-trained her in a TSA-approved carrier.

He announced his decision to leave in June on his Substack newsletter: “If you’re thinking, ‘Alessandro’s giving up,’ look deeper. I am choosing freedom. For the first time, I feel unshackled from the expectations of waiting.”

Negrete walks the streets of Boyle Heights while shopping for moving supplies after deciding he would leave the U.S. on his own terms.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Negrete had grown tired of wishing for immigration reform. He had built his career advocating for immigrants such as himself, including stints as statewide coordinator for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF, and as executive director for the California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance.

He said his work had helped legalize street vending in Los Angeles and he assisted the office of then-California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris in securing the release of a young woman from immigration detention. He was the first openly undocumented and LGBTQ+ person on the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council.

Under previous administrations, Negrete’s political work had felt like a shield against deportation. Even during Trump’s first term, Negrete had marched at rallies denouncing his immigration policies.

But that was before the new Immigration and Customs Enforcement patrols that tore into Southern California during Trump’s second term. On June 6, as anti-ICE protesters took to the streets, Negrete rushed to downtown Los Angeles when fellow activists told him street medics were needed.

“One of my homies said, ‘Hey fool, what are you doing here?’” he recalled. Seeing Los Angeles police officers advancing on the crowd, he realized that no amount of public support could protect him.

He fled. “Thank God I left.”

Negrete, in red, with his friends and colleagues at a farewell party and yard sale in August.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

In mid-August, Negrete hosted a yard sale and going away party. The flier was tongue-in-cheek: “Everything must go! Including me!”

His red T-shirt stated plainly, “I AM UNDOCUMENTED,” and his aviator sunglasses hid the occasional tears. Tattoos dotted his extremities, including an anchor on his right leg with the words “I refuse to sink.”

“I think it hit me when I started packing my stuff today,” he told a former colleague, Shruti Garg, who had arrived early.

“But the way you’ve invited everyone to join you is so beautiful,” she replied.

One table held American pop-culture knickknacks — sippy cups with Ghostface from the movie “Scream,” collectible Mickey Mouse ears, a Detective Batman purse shaped like a comic book, another purse shaped like the locker from the ‘90s cartoon “Daria.”

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Negrete said the items reminded him of his youth and represented the gothic, quirky aspects of his personality.

“I was born in Mexico, but I don’t know Mexico,” he said. “So I’m leaving the American parts of me that are no longer going to serve me.”

The back yard slowly filled with loved ones from Negrete’s various social circles. There was his mostly queer softball team — the Peacocks — his running group, his chosen family and his blood family.

Negrete’s close friend Joel Menjivar looked solemn.

“I’m scared it’s going to start a movement,” he said. “Undocumented or DACA friends who are talented and integral to the fabric of L.A. might get ideas to leave.”

Another friend, Mario Mariscal, said he took Negrete’s decision the hardest, though at first he didn’t believe Negrete was serious. More than once he asked, “You really want to give up everything you’ve built here for a new start in Mexico?”

Eventually, Negrete had to tell Mariscal that his questions weren’t helpful. During a deeper conversation about his decision, Negrete shared that he was tired of living with the constant fear of getting picked up, herded into an unmarked van and taken away.

“I just kept telling him, ‘That’s not going to happen to you,’” Mariscal said. “But the more this administration keeps doing it, the more it’s in our face, the more we’re seeing every horror story about that, it became clear that, you know what, you do have a point. You do have to do what’s right for you.”

Negrete continues packing for his move to Mexico as roommate Martinez works at their Boyle Heights home.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Negrete is cognizant of the privilege that makes his departure different from that of many other immigrants. He is white-passing, fluent in Spanish and English, and moved with $10,000 in savings.

In June, he was hired as executive director of a U.S.-based nonprofit, Old School Hub, that works to combat ageism around the world. The role allowed him to live wherever he wanted.

He decided to settle in Guadalajara, a growing technology hub, with historic buildings featuring Gothic architecture that he found beautiful. It also helped that Guadalajara has one of the country’s most vibrant LGBTQ+ scenes and is a four-hour drive from Puerto Vallarta, a renowned queer resort destination.

As Negrete began his new job while still in L.A., he picked a moving date — Sept. 4 — and booked a two-week Airbnb near the baseball stadium.

That Guadalajara’s team, the Charros de Jalisco, wore Dodger blue felt like a good omen.

On the day he left the United States, Negrete and Martinez hold a prayer at the beach in San Clemente in which Negrete offers thanks to the universe with an offering of a watermelon.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

On the drive toward the border, messages poured into Negrete’s phone.

“I’m sending you all my love Alessandro,” one read. “Cuídate. [Take care.] Know that even though you’re far away from home, you carry us with you.”

“Todo te va a salir bien,” read another. Everything will go well for you, it said. “Spread your wings and flyyyyy.”

Afraid of being stopped and detained at the airport, as has happened to other immigrants attempting to leave the country, Negrete preferred to drive to Tijuana and then fly to Guadalajara.

Negrete’s driver, his friend Jorge Leonardo, turned into a parking lot at the sign reading “LAST USA EXIT.”

Negrete put on his black felt tejana hat and called Iris Rodriguez, who was in the companion car. He asked her to cross on foot with him.

Negrete walks his last few steps on American soil as he enters Mexico en route to Guadalajara, his new home.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

“I don’t want to go alone,” he said.

“We’re still on American soil,” Leonardo said. “You can still change your mind.”

Negrete ignored him.

“See y’all on the other side,” he said as he hopped out of the car.

He and Rodriguez stopped for photos in front of a sign with an arrow pointing “To Mexico.” Around a corner, the border came into full view — a metal turnstile with layers of concertina wire above it.

The line for Mexicanos was unceremoniously quick. The immigration agent barely glanced at Negrete’s passport before waving him through.

On the other side, a busker sang “Piano Man” by Billy Joel in perfect English.

“Welcome to the motherland,” Rodriguez told him. Negrete let out a deep breath.

Negrete tours downtown Guadalajara, where he now lives.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Negrete’s immediate family members, and almost all of his extended family, live in the U.S.

He was born in Manzanillo, Colima, in 1982. Three months later, the family relocated to Los Angeles, where his parents had two more children.

At 17, Negrete was one of two students in his graduating class at Roosevelt High School to get into UC Berkeley. That’s when he found out he didn’t have papers.

His parents had divorced and his father married a U.S. citizen, obtaining a green card when Negrete was at Roosevelt. They began the legalization process for Negrete in 1999, he said, but two years later he came out to his family as gay.

His father was unsupportive and refused to continue seeking to adjust his immigration status. By the time they mended their relationship, it was too late. Negrete had aged out of the pathway at 21.

In 2008, Negrete said, he was arrested for driving while under the influence of alcohol. Four years later, President Obama established the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program to protect immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. Negrete failed to qualify because of the DUI.

He said he got his record expunged in 2016, but — again — it was too late.

The following year, Trump began unwinding DACA, shutting out new generations of would-be recipients, including Negrete.

Negrete waited until his last night in the U.S. to tell his mother, who now lives in Colorado, that he was leaving. He had grown tired of friends and other family members begging him to change his mind.

He had partially hinged his decision on the fact that his mom was in remission from her third bout with cancer and had just obtained legal residency. With life more stable for her, he could finally seek stability for himself.

“You taught me to dream,” Negrete recalled telling her. “This is me dreaming. I want to see the world.”

She cried and scolded him, promising to visit and repeating what she had said when he came out to her all those years before: “I wish you told me sooner.”

At a hotel in Tijuana, Negrete’s emotions finally caught up with him.

The day after Negrete and his three friends left L.A., three more friends surprised him by arriving in Tijuana for a final Friday night out together. One of them presented a gift he had put together with help from Negrete’s entire social circle — a video with loved ones sharing messages of encouragement.

Negrete shares a tearful moment with his friend Joel Menjivar, who gifted him a self-produced video of friends and colleagues offering good wishes.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

In Negrete’s hotel room, as he and his friends watched, the mood grew sentimental.

“You’re basically the one that formed the family friend tree,” one friend said in her clip. “Friendships do not die out in distance.”

Negrete sobbed. “Yes! Friendships don’t have borders,” he said.

“Every single one of you has said this hasn’t hit y’all, like it’s a mini vacation,” he said. “I want to think of it as an extended vacation.”

“This isn’t goodbye, this is we’ll see each other soon,” he continued.

Off his soapbox, Negrete then chided his friends for making him cry before heading to a drag show.

Negrete had a habit of leaving social gatherings abruptly. His friends joked that they would refer to him as “catch me on the 101” because every time he disappeared during a night out, they would open Apple’s Find My app and see him on the freeway heading home.

“We’re not gonna catch him on the 101 no more,” Martinez said.

The last few flights of stairs lead Iris Rodriguez and Negrete to his Airbnb apartment in Guadalajara.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

On the flight to Guadalajara, Negrete’s heart raced and he began to hyperventilate. The anxiety attack caught him off guard.

Negrete had worked hard to show his friends and family that he was happy, because he didn’t want them to think he had doubts — and he had none. But he began to worry about the unknown and to mourn his former dreams of gaining legal status and running for public office.

“It hit me all at once,” he recounted. “I am three hours away from a whole new life that I don’t know. I left everything and I don’t know what’s next.”

Many deep breaths by Negrete later, the plane descended through the clouds, revealing vibrant green fields and a cantaloupe-hued sunset.

Negrete tests the bed at his temporary home in Guadalajara.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Inside the Airbnb, he was surprised to find a clothesline instead of a dryer. Noticing the blue 5-gallon jug of water in the kitchen, he remarked that he would have to remember tap water wasn’t safe to cook with. But alongside the new was something familiar: The view from his 11–story apartment showed off a sprawling metropolis dotted with trees, some of them palms.

The next day started off like any Sunday, with a trip to Walmart and drag brunch.

Negrete marveled at the cost of a large carton of egg whites ($1) and was shocked to see eggs stored at room temperature, liquid laundry detergent in bags and only single-ply toilet paper. He treated himself to a Darth Vader coffee mug and a teapot featuring characters from “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

After brunch, it was time to play tourist. Negrete was accompanied by Rodriguez, who stayed with him for the first two weeks, and a new friend, Alejandro Preciado, whom he had met at Coachella in April and happened to be a Guadajalara local.

Negrete tours downtown Guadalajara. He was drawn to the city, in part, by its Gothic architecture.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Their first stop was the city’s Spanish Renaissance cathedral, where Negrete said a quick prayer to the Virgin Mary at his mother’s request. Negrete treated his friends to an electric carriage ride around the historic buildings, where he excitedly pointed out the Gothic architecture, then they bought aguas frescas and walked through an open-air market, chatting in an English-heavy Spanglish.

“I’m trying to look at how people dress,” Negrete said, suddenly self-conscious about his short shorts. “I’m pretty sure I stand out.”

After dinner, Negrete was booking an Uber back to his Airbnb when a message popped up: “We’ve detected unusual activity.”

The app didn’t know he had moved.

Before he arrived in Guadalajara, Negrete had already joined an intramural baseball team and a running club. Practices began days after his arrival.

Negrete enjoys a view of the sprawling hills of Guadalajara.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Within a month, he moved into an apartment, visited Mexico City and reconnected with aunts in Mexico City and Guadalajara he hadn’t seen in decades.

He reflected on the small joys of greeting neighborhood señoras on morning dog walks, discovering the depths of Mexican cuisine and the peace of mind that came with no longer feeling like a target — though he’ll still freeze at the sight of police lights.

Still, Negrete remained glued to U.S. politics. In late September, the federal government detailed plans to begin processing initial DACA applications for the first time in four years. Had Negrete stayed in the U.S., he would have finally qualified for a reprieve.

He isn’t regretful.

Lorca greets Negrete as he arrives home after touring Guadalajara.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

His new dreams are wide-ranging. He wants to buy a house in Rosarito, where friends and family from L.A. could visit him. He wants to travel the world, starting with a trip to Spain. And he wants to help U.S. organizations build resources for other immigrants who are considering repatriating.

The goal isn’t to encourage people to leave, he said, but to show them they have agency.

“I actually did it,” he said. “I did it, and I’m OK.”

Now, he said, Mexico feels like an estranged relative that he’s getting to know again.

Oct. 24 (UPI) — A district attorney in Southern California has filed manslaughter and DUI charges against a 21-year-old man in connection with a highway crash that killed three people and injured several others.

Jashanpreet Singh, 21, of Yuba City, was arrested Tuesday after the semi-truck he was driving at a high rate of speed crashed into stopped traffic on the 10 Freeway West near Ontario, Calif.

San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson filed a four-count complaint Thursday charging Singh with three counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and one count of driving while under the influence of a drug causing injury, with great bodily injury and multiple victims enhancements.

Three people were killed and at least three others were injured, at least two seriously, according to the complaint.

One of the deceased victims has been identified in court documents as Jamie Flores Garcia. The other two were identified as Jane Doe and John Doe.

Federal immigration authorities have identified Singh as an Indian citizen and an undocumented immigrant.

Anderson rebuked law enforcement over the crash, which he said “was easily avoidable if the defendant was not driving in a grossly negligent manner and impaired.”

“Had the rule of law been followed by state and federal officials, the defendant should have never been in California at all,” he said in a statement.

The Department of Homeland Security on Thursday said it has lodged an immigration detainer for the suspect. It said Singh entered the United States in 2022 through the southern border and was then released into the country.

It blamed the Biden administration for the crash.

“It’s a terrible tragedy three innocent people lost their lives due to the reckless open border policies that allowed an illegal alien to be released into the U.S. and drive an 18-wheeler on America’s highways,” Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

The crash comes amid a political immigration fight, with the Trump administration seeking to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.

The Trump administration and Republicans frequently blame the previous Biden administration and Democrats.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy rebuked Democrat-run California for failing to “enforce my new rules for obtaining licenses to operate trucks.”

The office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat feuding with President Donald Trump, responded that Duffy was manipulating facts “to score cheap political points” as the state does not determine commercial driver’s license eligibility.

“The FEDERAL government approved and renewed this individual’s FEDERAl employment authorization multiple times — which allowed him to obtain a commercial driver’s license in accordance with FEDERAL law,” it said on X.

“State rules and regulations for commercial driver’s licenses must be CONSISTENT with the standards set by FEDERaL law.”

Singh is to be arraigned Friday at the Rancho Cucamonga Superior Courthouse. No bail was set and the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office said it will request the suspect not be granted bail due to the seriousness of the offense and his potential to be a flight risk.

SACRAMENTO — Though raging thousands of miles to the east, the entrenched stalemate in Washington over federal spending and the ensuing government shutdown has thrust California’s expansive healthcare policies into the center of the pitched, partisan debate.

The Trump administration and the Republican leaders in Congress continue to use California, and the benefits the state has extended to eligible immigrants regardless of their legal status, as a cudgel against Democrats trying to extend federal subsidies for taxpayer-funded healthcare coverage.

President Trump claimed recently that Democrats “want to have illegal aliens come into our country and get massive healthcare at the cost to everybody else.” Democrats called Trump’s assertion an absolute lie, accusing Republicans of wanting to slash federal healthcare benefits to Americans in need to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy.

“California has led the nation in expanding access to affordable healthcare, but Donald Trump is ripping it away,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said.

In return for their votes to reopen the government, Democratic leaders in Congress want to reverse Medicaid cuts made in Republicans’ tax and spending bill passed this summer and continue subsidies through the Affordable Care Act, a program long targeted by Republicans. The subsidies, which come in the form of a tax credit, help lower health insurance costs for millions of Americans.

Can immigrants in the country illegally enroll in federal healthcare programs?

No. Undocumented immigrants are ineligible for Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program or Medicare, or coverage through the Affordable Care Act, according to KFF, an independent health research organization.

Rep. Kevin Mullin (D-South San Francisco) held a virtual town hall last week in which he highlighted the “misinformation” about immigrants and healthcare.

“I just want to be completely clear that federal funding does not pay for health insurance for undocumented immigrants, period,” Mullin said.

Jessica Altman, executive director of Covered California, said the debate is really over “who can benefit from the federal dollars that are flowing to all states, including California,” to help lower costs for health insurance.

Covered California serves as a marketplace exchange for state residents seeking healthcare insurance under the Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare, allowing them to select from name-brand insurance providers and choose from a variety of coverage plans. The vast majority of Californians receive federal subsidies to lower their premiums, including many middle-income families who had become eligible when Congress expanded the financial assistance in 2021.

Those expanded subsidies will expire at the end of the year, and Democrats are demanding that they be extended as part of any deal to reopen the government before they vote in favor of what is known as a continuing resolution, or a temporary funding bill to keep the federal government running.

“From the very beginning, undocumented or illegal — whatever terminology you want to use — individuals were never eligible for those tax credits, never eligible for those cost-sharing reductions, and in fact, and not even eligible to come onto a marketplace and buy coverage if they paid the full costs,” Altman said.

California does offer state healthcare coverage for undocumented immigrants

Through Medi-Cal, the state’s version of the federal Medicaid program, some medical coverage is offered, regardless of immigration status. The majority of that money comes from the state.

H.D. Palmer, deputy director for external affairs at the California Department of Finance, said the cost to provide Medi-Cal to undocumented immigrants in the current fiscal year is just over $12.5 billion.

State money accounts for $11.2 billion and the remaining difference is reimbursed with federal funding because it’s used to cover emergency services, Palmer explained.

“Under current law, hospitals that receive Medicaid are required to provide emergency care, including labor and delivery, to individuals regardless of their citizenship status,” he said. “That goes back to a budget law that was approved by Congress in 1986 and signed by President Ronald Reagan.”

The 1986 law is called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, and allows for emergency healthcare for all persons.

Some Republicans have raised other concerns about the state’s use of managed care organization taxes.

The MCO tax is a federally allowable Medicaid funding mechanism that imposes a tax on health insurance providers that charge fixed monthly payments for services and is based on the number of people enrolled in plans each month. The revenue from the tax can then be used to support Medicaid expenditures with federal matching funds.

Critics say California exploits a so-called loophole: By increasing the MCO tax, and subsequently bringing in more matching federal funds, California can then put more of its own state money toward healthcare for undocumented immigrants.

“We are bringing in all those additional federal dollars and then reallocating other money away so that we can provide about $9.6 billion for Medi-Cal for undocumented and illegal immigrants,” said Assemblymember David J. Tangipa (R-Fresno). “The MCO tax was never supposed to be weaponized in that process.”

White House officials also contend that California could not afford to put resources toward benefits for undocumented immigrants if it had not received the extra federal money — a claim Newsom disputes.

“What the president is saying, he’s lying,” Newsom said at a recent event. “Speaker [Mike] Johnson’s lying. They’re lying to the American people. It’s shameful. … I guess they’re trying to connect their displeasure with what California and many other states do with state resources in this space, and that is a very separate conversation.”

California is not alone in offering such healthcare to immigrants in the country illegally

A “small but growing” number of states offer state-funded coverage to certain groups of low-income people regardless of immigration status, according to KFF.

California became the first state in the nation last year to offer healthcare to all low-income undocumented immigrants, an expansion spearheaded by Newsom.

Newsom has since partially walked back that policy after the costs exceeded expectations. Starting in January, most adult Medi-Cal applications will be blocked — although current enrollees can continue to renew — and some adults will be required to pay monthly premiums. Undocumented minors under age 19, who became eligible for Medi-Cal nearly a decade ago, will not be affected by the changes.

The upcoming changes to the state’s policies and the enrollment freeze will help decrease the overall costs, which are projected to fall to about $10.1 billion during the next fiscal year, according to the California Department of Finance.

While the governor’s shift angered his most progressive allies and renewed speculation that he is tacking to the political middle ahead of his expected run for president in 2028, the Democratic-led Legislature approved the Medi-Cal eligibility changes in June.

Public opinion on the issue may also be changing.

Fifty-eight percent of adults in California were opposed to providing healthcare for undocumented immigrants, according to a poll released in June from the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. This was a notable shift, as previous surveys from the institute conducted between 2015 to 2023 showed the majority approved.

Who would lose coverage if the tax credits end and Medicaid cuts aren’t reversed?

Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by Republicans this summer, ends healthcare subsidies that were extended during the pandemic and makes other cuts to programs. According to the White House, the bill “contains the most important America First healthcare reforms ever enacted.”

“The policies represent a comprehensive effort to address waste, fraud, and abuse to strengthen the healthcare system for the most vulnerable Americans, ensuring that taxpayer dollars are focused on American citizens and do not subsidize healthcare for illegal immigrants,” the White House said in a statement on Oct. 1.

Among other things, the law limits Medicare and other program eligibility to certain groups, including green card holders, effective July 2025. Other lawfully present immigrants, including refugees and asylees, are no longer eligible, according to KFF.

It’s estimated that the eligibility restrictions will result in about 1.4 million lawfully present immigrants becoming uninsured, reduce federal spending by about $131 billion and increase federal revenue by $4.8 billion as of 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

At the same time, a broader group of lawfully present immigrants, including refugees, will lose access to subsidized coverage through the ACA marketplace by January 2027.

Covered California’s Altman estimated that there are about 119,000 immigrants in California who are covered and would lose eligibility for financial assistance.

More broadly, Altman and other healthcare experts predict that healthcare premiums will skyrocket if the ACA tax credits expire.

Of all the finger-pointing and recriminations that come with the current federal government shutdown, one of the most striking elements is that the Trump administration blames it on Democratic support for granting taxpayer-funded healthcare coverage to undocumented immigrants. The White House has called out California specifically, saying the state exploits a legal “loophole” to pay for that coverage with federal dollars, and other states have followed suit.

“California utilized an egregious loophole — since employed by several other states — to draw down federal matching funds used to provide Medicaid benefits for illegal immigrants,” the White House said in a policy memo released Wednesday as a budget stalemate forced a shutdown of the U.S. government.

The administration said that the Working Families Tax Cut Act, which goes into effect in October 2026, closes the loophole by prohibiting the use of taxpayer money to provide healthcare coverage to undocumented immigrants and other noncitizens.

In the memo, the White House accused congressional Democrats of wanting to repeal those policy reforms as a condition to keep the government running.

Izzy Gardon, a spokeswoman for Gov. Gavin Newsom, said there’s nothing to the administration’s underlying assertion that California and other states have found some sort of loophole that enables them to funnel Medicaid money to noncitizens.

“This is false — CA does not do this,” Gardon said in a one-line email to the L.A. Times.

Healthcare policy experts agree. California is not exploiting a “loophole,” said Adriana Ramos-Yamamoto, a senior policy analyst at the California Budget & Policy Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that studies inequality.

“The state is making lawful, transparent budget choices to invest in health coverage with its own dollars,” Ramos-Yamamoto said in a statement to The Times. “These investments improve health outcomes, strengthen communities, and lower health care costs in the long run.”

At issue is Section 71117 of the Republican-backed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which imposes nearly $1 trillion in reductions to federal Medicaid healthcare spending for low-income Americans over the next 10 years. The provision allows states “to finance the non-federal share of Medicaid spending through multiple sources, including state general funds, healthcare related taxes (or ‘provider taxes’), and local government funds,” as long as taxes on healthcare providers are imposed uniformly so as not to unfairly burden providers of Medicaid services.

The bottom line, analysts said, is the administration is citing a problem with the law that doesn’t seem to exist, at least not in California.

“The so-called California loophole references a provision in the law that ends a waiver of the uniformity requirements for provider taxes — this provision has nothing to do with using federal funds to pay for care for undocumented immigrants,” said Jennifer Tolbert, a healthcare expert at the nonprofit healthcare research, polling and news organization KFF.

“But the White House makes the claim that California uses the money they get from the provider tax to pay for care for undocumented immigrants,” Tolbert said.

Fact-checking the administration’s claim is all the more difficult because there are no official data on how states spend money collected from provider taxes, Alice Burns, another KFF analyst, added. What’s more, California is among several states that offer some level of Medicaid coverage to all immigrants regardless of status. And because California cannot be federally reimbursed for healthcare spending on people who are not in the country legally, those expenses must be covered at the state level.

The White House memo goes on to claim that if Democrats were to succeed at repealing the provisions in the Working Families Tax Act, the federal government would have to spend an additional $34.6 billion in taxpayer money “that would continue to primarily be abused by California to fund healthcare for illegal immigrants.”

This assertion also misconstrues the facts, according to KFF.

“What we do know is that the $35 billion in savings that is referenced in the White House Fact Sheet refers to the federal government’s estimated savings … resulting from states making changes to their provider tax systems,” KFF spokesperson Tammie Smith said. That is, the projected savings aren’t connected to healthcare for immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.

Political squabbling aside, California’s approach to medical coverage for low-income, undocumented immigrants is set to undergo a major shift thanks to provisions in the 2025-26 state budget that the Democrat-led legislature and Newsom approved in June.

Starting on Jan. 1, adults “who do not have Satisfactory Immigration Status (SIS)” will no longer be able to enroll in Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, according to the state’s Department of Health Care Services webpage. Those who already have this coverage can keep it and continue to renew their enrollment. And starting on July 1, Medi-Cal enrollees who are age 19-59, undocumented and not pregnant will have to pay a $30 monthly premium to keep their coverage.

The changes, which Newsom called for in the spring to offset a ballooning Medi-Cal budget deficit, drew criticism from some immigrant rights groups, with the California Immigrant Policy Center describing the moves as “discriminatory.”

“In light of the militarized mass immigration raids and arrests causing fear and chaos across California, we are disappointed that the governor and the leadership in the Legislature chose to adopt a state budget that makes our communities even more vulnerable,” Masih Fouladi, the center’s executive director said at the time.

Everyone in California who qualifies for Medi-Cal will still be eligible to receive emergency medical and dental care, no matter their immigration status.

Sept. 12 (UPI) — A man in Chicago was shot and killed by an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent after the man allegedly hit an agent with his car.

Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez was stopped by ICE, according to a press release from the Department of Homeland Security. He was an undocumented immigrant and had a history of reckless driving, the release said.

Villegas-Gonzalez allegedly resisted arrest and hit an agent with his car, dragging him down the street.

The agent, “fearing for his own life,” shot Villegas-Gonzalez, DHS said.

Villegas-Gonzalez and the unnamed agent were taken to the hospital, and Villegas-Gonzalez was pronounced dead. The officer is stable but has suffered severe injuries, DHS said.

The incident happened in Franklin Park, about 15 miles west of downtown.

“We are praying for the speedy recovery of our law enforcement officer. He followed his training, used appropriate force, and properly enforced the law to protect the public and law enforcement,” Tricia McLaughlin, Homeland Security assistant secretary, said in a press release. “Viral social media videos and activists encouraging illegal aliens to resist law enforcement not only spread misinformation, but also undermine public safety, as well as the safety of our officers and those being apprehended.”

A new study from the Pew Research Center released Thursday shows that the number of unauthorized immigrants — the organization’s terminology for undocumented people — reached an all-time high of 14 million people in 2023. That’s up 3.5 million from 2021, which marks the largest two-year jump the center has recorded.

Pew has sub-categorized unauthorized immigrants in two groups: those with deportation protections and those without.

“There are some people who enter the country without authorization and have remained in that status since,” the director of race and ethnicity research at Pew, Mark Hugo Lopez, told The Times. “There are others who may have come to the U.S. legally — for example on an H-1B visa — but their visa expired, they overstayed their visa and are now also classified as unauthorized immigrants, even though they entered the country legally.”

Lopez went on to explain that there’s another subset: people who entered the country without authorization but are granted a number of exemptions, particularly temporary protection from deportation through different programs. This includes people like those with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or those who are in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Unauthorized immigrants with protections were largely responsible for the increase from 2021 to 2023, Pew found.

Overall, unauthorized immigrants made up 27% of the total foreign-born population in the U.S. in 2023, with 8 million having no protections and 6 million having some level of protection.

California led the country with the largest unauthorized immigrant population at 2.3 million people, followed by Texas with 2.1 million people and Florida with 1.6 million people. The Sunshine State had the largest increase in the demographic from 2021 to 2023, probably due to then-President Biden’s immigration policies — such as the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan (CHNV) parole program.

When it came to families with mixed status, most children — 4.6 million out of 6.1 million — living with an unauthorized immigrant parent are U.S. citizens.

In regard to the U.S. workforce, unauthorized immigrants made up 5.6% of the national workforce. In California, unauthorized immigrants made up 8% of the statewide workforce by 2023.

One aspect of the research that stood out to Lopez the most was the shift in where immigrants to the U.S. are coming from, even if the country with the most people coming to the States remains the same.

“Unauthorized immigrants from Mexico are still the single largest group of unauthorized immigrants, but there are immigrants coming from many other parts of the world: from China, from India, from countries in Africa, from other parts of Latin America, including Venezuela,” Lopez noted.

Though the results of the latest Pew report focused on in-depth research of data from 2021 to 2023, the center acknowledged the new state of affairs for unauthorized immigrants over the last two years.

“The Trump administration, and the Biden administration as well, has changed who has protections and those who don’t,” Lopez said. “One large group — those in the CHNV program — had temporary protections from deportations and even permits to work in the United States temporarily. However, the Trump administration has revoked those protections, and now those immigrants are are no longer protected from possible deportation.”

Based on statistics from the Department of Homeland Security and other available government data, Pew estimates that the U.S. unauthorized immigrant population probably continued to increase through mid-2024. With the start of the new year and new presidency in 2025, Pew estimates that the unauthorized immigrant population probably declined by quite possibly as much as 1 million people. Despite that falloff, it is still believed that — as of July 2025 — the unauthorized immigrant population “almost surely” remains higher than in July 2023.

In January 2025, the census estimated the U.S. foreign-born population at an all-time high of 53.3 million people (15.8% of the total U.S. population). The agency’s data showed a decline during the first six months of 2025 and by June 2025, the foreign-born population was 51.9 million — a drop of 1.5 million people from its peak in January.

That change in data may be attributed to several different factors, Lopez pointed out.

“That may be a real decline, but it also may be that perhaps what we are seeing is a change in the way people are responding to the survey,” he said. “Or perhaps people are not responding to the survey at all, which may have an impact on our estimate of how many immigrants live in the country.”

Regarding the effect of self-deportations on the overall immigrants population in the U.S., Lopez said there is currently no data available to Pew that can definitively point to how much that process has affected the population.

“People make decisions to return to their home countries or maybe go to another country to pursue opportunities, whether economic or otherwise,” he explained. “So the idea of a particular self-deportation is really more that maybe people were choosing to leave and they’ve left in the last few months and it has more to do with their own opportunities or other decisions. While it would be great to know whether or not self-deportation has happened and how much so, we need more data to be able to give a precise estimate for that.”

With many uncertainties regarding potential future difficulties in gathering demographic information, Lopez acknowledged that Pew will have to adapt to the times.

“It is possible that we may have to make further adjustments to our estimate to capture undercount and other challenges in collecting data about immigrants and particularly unauthorized immigrants in the U.S.,” he said.

Trump’s anti-immigrant policies are driving even U.S. citizens away

De Los reporter Andrea Flores wrote about an ongoing trend of seeking dual citizenship, both among the U.S. Latinx population and the general population.

“Are we even safe as American citizens?” asked L.A. resident Julie Ear in a video interview with The Times’ Diana Ramirez Santacruz — citing instances in which U.S. citizens have been taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “ Even though we were born here, we don’t know if we’re gonna be safe long term.”

This year, Ear documented her mother’s self-deportation at the Tijuana airport in a TikTok video that has garnered 9.3 million views.

Longtime Angeleno Nicole Macias applied for dual Mexican citizenship last year and has since turned to social media to educate others about the dual citizenship process.

“The political climate right now in Los Angeles is really crazy. A lot of people just feel unsafe,” Macias told The Times. “A lot of people are turning back to this idea of being able to go back to Mexico and have an easier lifestyle.”

This trend also applies to non-Latinx U.S. citizens. A record number of Americans applied for British citizenship between January and March, according the U.K. government. Some Canadian lawyers also noticed an uptick in Americans seeking Canadian citizenship in recent months, with many citing political uncertainty in the U.S. as a motivating factor.

In the wake of ICE raids in L.A., artists band together for immigrants

Curator Love, Este Hogar no le abre la puerta a I.C.E.

(Amelia Tabullo)

De Los contributing writer Sarah Quiñones Wolfson wrote about how members of the L.A. arts community are using their work to raise funds to support immigrants in the city.

Quiñones Wolfson spoke with a slew of artists whose work depicts and benefits the L.A.’s vibrant and vital immigrant populations. Included in the article are striking photos of the previously mentioned artwork with a message.

In the piece, Erika Hirugami — an academic curator and founder of the immigrant-focused art enterprise CuratorLove — introduced me to the inclusive phrase “undocplus” (also spelled “undoc+”) which refers to formerly or currently undocumented people, emphasizing a shared lived experience.

Stories we read this week that we think you should read

Stories we read this week that we think you should read
Unless otherwise noted, all stories in this section are from the L.A. Times.

Immigration and the border

Politics

Climate

Education

Arts and Entertainment

California-specific agony

(Jackie Rivera / For The Times; Martina Ibáñez-Baldor / Los Angeles Times)

California and a coalition of other liberal-led states sued the Trump administration Monday over new rules barring undocumented immigrants from accessing more than a dozen federally funded “public benefit” programs, arguing the restrictions target working mothers and their children in violation of federal law.

President Trump and others in his administration have defended the restrictions as necessary to protect services for American citizens — including veterans — and reduce incentives for illegal immigration into the country.

One of the programs facing new restrictions is Head Start, which provided some 800,000 low-income infants, toddlers and preschoolers with child care, nutrition and health assistance.

Others include short-term shelters for homeless people, survivors of domestic violence and at-risk youth; emergency shelters for people during extreme weather conditions; soup kitchens, community food banks and other food support services for the elderly, such as Meals on Wheels; healthcare services for those with mental illness and substance abuse issues; and other adult education programs.

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s office said states have been allowed to extend such programs to undocumented immigrant families at least since 1997, and the Trump administration’s “abrupt reversal of nearly three decades of precedent” amounted to a “cruel” and costly attack on some of the nation’s most vulnerable residents.

“This latest salvo in the President’s inhumane anti-immigration campaign primarily goes after working moms and their young children,” Bonta said. “We’re not talking about waste, fraud, and abuse, we’re talking about programs that deliver essential childcare, healthcare, nutrition, and education assistance, programs that have for decades been open to all.”

The lawsuit — which California filed along with 19 other states and the District of Columbia — contends the new restrictions were not only initiated in an “arbitrary and capricious” manner and without proper notice to the states, but will end up costing the states hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

Bonta’s office said “requiring programs to expend resources to implement systems and train staff to verify citizenship or immigration status will impose a time and resource burden on programs already struggling to operate on narrow financial margins.”

It also said that the impact of the changes in California, which has a huge immigrant population compared to other states, would be “devastating — and immediate.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

The states’ claims run counter to arguments from Trump, his administration and other anti-immigration advocates that extending benefits to undocumented immigrants encourages illegal immigration into the country, costs American taxpayers money and makes it harder for U.S. citizens to receive services.

About a month after taking office, Trump issued an executive order titled “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders,” in which he said his administration would “uphold the rule of law, defend against the waste of hard-earned taxpayer resources, and protect benefits for American citizens in need, including individuals with disabilities and veterans.”

The order required the heads of federal agencies to conduct sweeping reviews of their benefits programs and move to restrict access for undocumented immigrants, in part to “prevent taxpayer resources from acting as a magnet and fueling illegal immigration to the United States.”

Trump cited the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 as providing clear restrictions against non-citizens participating in federally funded benefits programs, and accused past administrations of undermining “the principles and limitations” of that law.

Past administrations have provided exemptions to the law, namely by allowing immigrants to access certain “life or safety” programs — including those now being targeted for new restrictions.

In response to Trump’s order, various federal agencies — including Health and Human Services, Labor, Education and Agriculture — issued notices earlier this month announcing their reinterpretation of the 1996 law as excluding “noncitizens” from more programs, including previously exempted ones.

“For too long, the government has diverted hardworking Americans’ tax dollars to incentivize illegal immigration,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “Today’s action changes that — it restores integrity to federal social programs, enforces the rule of law, and protects vital resources for the American people.”

“Under President Trump’s leadership, hardworking American taxpayers will no longer foot the bill for illegal aliens to participate in our career, technical, or adult education programs or activities,” said Education Secretary Linda McMahon.

“By ensuring these programs serve their intended purpose, we’re protecting good-paying jobs for American workers and reaffirming this Administration’s commitment to securing our borders and ending illegal immigration,” said Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.

The Department of Agriculture also said it would apply new restrictions on benefits for undocumented immigrants, including under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. However, the states’ lawsuit does not challenge the Department of Agriculture, noting that “many USDA programs are subject to an independent statutory requirement to provide certain benefits programs to everyone regardless of citizenship,” which the department’s notice said would continue to apply.

Joining Bonta in filing the lawsuit were the attorneys general of the Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin, as well as the District of Columbia.

Even as Californians protest the crude and often brutal deportation tactics employed by President Trump’s ICE and Homeland Security agents, we’re giving too little thought to how our state, and the nation, is failing the very immigrant community we want to protect.

In the past, particularly in the last century, when the U.S. economy, and California’s, was growing at a fast rate, loosely controlled immigration filled critical needs and, over time, moved many immigrants into an increasingly diverse middle class. But now newcomers are getting stuck. According to new findings from USC and University of California researchers, immigrants account for nearly a quarter of the U.S. population living in poverty, up from 14% three decades ago.

The immigrant poverty rate fluctuates, but it has been rising in recent years, especially since the pandemic. In 2024, 22.4% of all immigrants and 28.4% of non-citizen immigrants, including the undocumented, were poor, the highest rates since 2008.

As well, welfare dependency is more pronounced among immigrants than the native born. A 2023 analysis of census data showed that 54% of households headed by naturalized citizens, legal residents and the undocumented use one or more welfare programs versus 39% of U.S.-born households.

In California, the overall situation is only slightly better. A 2023 report from the Public Policy Institute of California put the poverty rate for all foreign-born residents at 17.6%, compared to 11.5% for those born here. For unauthorized immigrants, however, the rate was even higher than the national figure: 29.6%. Undocumented households, notes a separate USC study, have consistently had the lowest median household income in L.A. — $46,500, compared to $75,000 among all Angelenos in 2024.

The grim statistics reflect a decline starting in the 1980s in blue–collar industries in California, which traditionally offered upward mobility to immigrants. Unionization in the immigrant-heavy hospitality industry has helped lift some families, but those gains may lead to fewer jobs as employers look to rein in costs, potentially by automating some services. And immigration itself, especially mass immigration, puts downward pressure on many of the jobs newcomers fill — in agriculture, for example, or construction.

The dearth of jobs that support families has pushed California toward a model that Michael Lind, a Texas-based historian and author, describes as the “low wage/high welfare model.”

The fiscal implications are severe. The president has signed executive orders denying federal funds to sanctuary cities, funds that would shore up city and state budgets for policing, education and many other services affected by immigration. Those orders have been stymied in the courts, although Trump is sure to try again. At the same time, the budget the president signed into law on July 4 boosts funds for border enforcement but cuts back such things as medical services for non-citizens, even for those who are here legally.

This will cause particular distress in deep blue states. California’s current budget shortfall has forced Trump “resistance” leader Gov. Gavin Newsom to scale back healthcare for the undocumented, which is also occurring in other progressive hotbeds such as Washington state, Illinois and Minnesota.

The simple truth is that the low wage/high welfare economy dependent on illegal immigration isn’t sustainable. Economic reality suggests we need a commonsense policy to restrict new migration and to focus on policies that can allow current immigrants — especially those deeply embedded in our communities and those with useful skills — to enjoy the success of previous generations.

What would a commonsense policy look like? It would secure the border, which the Trump administration is already doing, and shift immigration priorities away from family reunion and more toward attracting those who can contribute to an increasingly complex economy. Deportations should prioritize convicted criminals and members of criminal gangs, whose presence is hardly welcomed by most immigrants.

Law-abiding immigrants who are here without authorization should be offered a ticket home or a chance to register for legal status based on a clean record, paying taxes and steady employment. In addition we need to consider a new Bracero Program, which allowed guest workers to come to the U.S. legally without their families in the mid-20th century. Even President Trump has been forced to acknowledge that low-wage immigrant labor is difficult to replace in some sectors.

This kind of immigration reform has eluded Congress for decades, but a clear-eyed assessment shows that merely welcoming newcomers willy-nilly won’t pay off for most migrants or for California. A large pool of undocumented labor is the exact opposite of what is needed to nurture a strong and sustainable economy. If you are protesting against ICE raids and immigrant bashing, you should also be protesting for remaking U.S. immigration according to economic fundamentals. The prospect of a better life should be available to us all.

Joel Kotkin is a contributing writer to Opinion, the presidential fellow for urban futures at Chapman University and senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas, Austin.

Health Department says immigrants will lose access to 13 more federal programmes, including an educational project for low-income children.

United States officials are cutting down further on undocumented immigrants’ access to healthcare programmes and benefits as part of President Donald Trump’s widening immigration crackdown.

On Thursday, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it was broadening its interpretation of a 1996 law that prohibits most immigrants from receiving federal public benefits.

The decision means that undocumented immigrants will no longer be eligible for an additional 13 programmes.

They include Head Start, a pre-school educational programme, and projects that address family planning, mental health, substance abuse and efforts to reduce homelessness.

“For too long, the government has diverted hardworking Americans’ tax dollars to incentivise illegal immigration,” HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr said on Thursday.

“Today’s action changes that – it restores integrity to federal social programmes, enforces the rule of law and protects vital resources for the American people.”

Critics fear the added restrictions will further marginalise a vulnerable group of immigrants who often have scarce resources, exacerbating public health crises in the US.

The new restrictions relate to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996.

That law — passed under Democratic President Bill Clinton — barred those living in the country without valid immigration documents and those on temporary visas, like students or foreign workers, from receiving major benefits from the federal government.

However, the scope of the restrictions was not spelled out, as the law did not define what counted as “federal public benefits”.

To make things clearer, the HHS issued a legal interpretation in 1998, which prevented access to 31 programmes. Medicaid — an insurance programme for low-income households — and Social Security were among them, as was the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

In a statement released on Thursday, the HHS claimed “the 1998 policy improperly narrowed the scope of PRWORA”, allowing undocumented immigrants to access programmes which “Congress intended only for the American people”.

With Thursday’s additions, the total number of restricted programmes rises to 44.

The HHS’s new policy, which is subject to a 30-day public comment period, will take effect when it is published in the Federal Register.

Since starting his second presidential term in January, Donald Trump has made it a priority to tackle undocumented immigration.

Critics have accused his administration of violating human rights and the US Constitution, as well as exceeding his presidential authority.

As part of Trump’s campaign of mass deportation, for example, the president invoked a controversial wartime legislation to deport hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants to a notorious prison in El Salvador in March. Opponents argue that Trump falsely declared undocumented immigration to be an “invasion” in order to justify denying the immigrants their right to due process.

Rep. Robert Garcia’s relatives, many of Peruvian decent, have been asking him recently if they need to carry identification with them, as federal agents seemingly round up brown people at will.

His answer? Yes, but don’t let fear quell resistance.

“What’s happening right now with the terror of seeing masked men with rifles running into communities and scooping people up, the images that people are seeing on the TV of folks being sent to foreign prisons that have committed no crime, this is a serious moment,” he told me last week, ducking off the House floor where President Trump’s mess of a bill was being debated to speak by phone.

But “we cannot just allow all this to happen and for there to be no accountability for these actions,” Garcia added.

These days, Garcia is all about accountability. The Long Beach representative was recently was chosen by his Democratic congressional peers — after less than three years in office — for the minority party’s top job on the powerful House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

For those of you who aren’t government wonks, that’s a prime position for pushing back against Trump. So, as the president would say, it’s A BIG DEAL! Especially for a young guy — because usually the role goes to an old politician with seniority.

That’s left some, myself included, wondering if Garcia, 47, isn’t our insider Zohran Mamdani — the young, charismatic New Yorker whose recent win in the mayoral primary has left Democrats reeling with the reality that voters want fighters, and that patriotism isn’t just what MAGA decides it is.

Garcia has the same kind of energy and confidence that his version of America — one that is unabashedly inclusive, affordable and fair — is what his constituents want, and one he’s expected to fight for.

“I love this country,” Garcia said. “I feel like Trump and his minions don’t understand what real patriotism is.”

If you missed the fantastic profile of Garcia that my colleagues Seema Mehta and Andrea Castillo did not long ago, I’ll give you the highlights. Garcia came to this country from Peru when he was 5, his parents like so many seeking safety and opportunity.

The family overstayed their visas and joined the millions of undocumented Californians working hard, hoping harder and dreaming of a day when America embraced them the way they embraced America.

His mom cleaned houses and worked in a thrift store. Garcia taught himself English reading Superman comics. He excelled in school and by the time he was in college, Ronald Reagan of all people offered him a path to citizenship with the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. He grabbed it.

“When I swore an oath to the Constitution, that actually meant something to me,” he said. “I had to fight for citizenship.”

Garcia went into public service and was elected mayor of Long Beach, the city’s youngest, first openly gay and first Latino mayor. Then he jumped to Congress in 2022, becoming president of his freshman Democratic class.

He is the American dream. But also the American nightmare to some on the far right, who may never forgive him for once being undocumented and doing the worst thing an undocumented person can do — succeed.

“I am who I am,” he said. “I’m a U.S. citizen. I have just as much right to be here and to serve as he does, and I’m not scared of Donald Trump.”

Garcia’s rapid rise in Congress shows he’s not just a brawler, but one with finesse. Garcia beat out Massachusetts Rep. Stephen Lynch, 70, for the job on the Oversight Committee. And before that, Maryland Rep. Kweisi Mfume, 76, bowed out, lacking support. He also bested Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett, 44, who has made a name for herself as a clever pugilist.

“It was clear by the numbers that my style of leadership is not exactly what [Democrats] were looking for, and so I didn’t think that it was fair for me to push forward and try to rebuke that,” Crockett told Politico after dropping her bid.

Garcia was able to combine his willingness to spar with the boring necessity of being a good manager, something he learned from running Long Beach. The committee role Garcia has now opened up when Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly died of cancer in May.

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, long considered the youthful firebrand of the Democratic Party, sought the job earlier this year but was rebuffed in favor of Connolly, with his years of clout. But that was before Mamdani, and the internal blowup within the party over age and attitude.

Ocasio-Cortez decided not to pursue the role a second time, but Garcia said she was one of the first people he spoke with when he decided to try his own luck.

“It’s been clear to me that the party should welcome generational change,” he said, echoing a now-familiar line. “There’s a groundswell out there of folks that want new ideas, that want us to be aggressive against Trump.”

With Democrats in the minority in both houses of Congress, there isn’t too much Garcia or any Democrat can do to stop the Trump agenda. But it’s important to make noise, set markers for future action and speak truth, Garcia said — and lay the groundwork for a time when Democrats do have a majority.

“The first thing is, we’ve got to be serious about having an anti-corruption agenda that includes taking a look at all of the horrific ways that [Trump’s] enriching himself and his family,” Garcia said.

The fancy dinner for investors of his cryptocurrency, the Qatari jet, his new perfume. The examples of Trump profiting off the presidency are numerous.

Garcia calls it “enormous grift” and “huge steps backward for our democracy.”

And then there is fellow Californian Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump’s immigration offensive.

If Democrats are ever back in power, and Oversight Committee Democrats can issue subpoenas and conduct investigations, “rest assured that Stephen Miller needs to be answering questions,” Garcia said. “Elon Musk needs to be asked questions in front of the Oversight Committee. So that agenda is going to be critical.”

But also, it’s not all about Trump.

“We have to also have a forward-looking agenda of, how do we make government work better?” he said. “It’s a bigger question about what kind of country, not only that we want to live in right now, but what kind of country we can actually build in the future.”

WASHINGTON — An undocumented man from Guatemala who has leukemia postponed chemotherapy because he was afraid to go to the hospital.

A Mexican grandmother packed most of her belongings into boxes, in case she is deported.

A Pentecostal church in East Los Angeles has lost nearly half of its in-person membership.

Across California and the U.S., immigrants are responding to the Trump administration’s unrelenting enforcement raids by going into lockdown. Activities that were once a regular or even mundane part of life — taking kids to school, buying groceries, driving — have become daunting as immigrants who lack legal authorization grapple with how to avoid arrest and deportation.

To stay safe, some immigrants have swapped in-person activities with digital approximations. Others are simply shutting themselves away from society.

“It’s a harmful form of racial profiling combined with the suspension of constitutional rights and due process. That’s why many families are staying at home,” said Victor Narro, a professor and project director for the UCLA Labor Center.

Pastor Carlos Rincon said that about 400 people used to attend his church every week. Now, half as many attend and viewership of live-streamed services on Facebook and YouTube has increased.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Pastor Carlos Rincon, who leads a Pentecostal church in East Los Angeles, said that about 400 people used to attend his church every week, people with roots in Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras. Now, half as many attend and viewership of live-streamed services on Facebook and YouTube has increased. Some prayer groups meet on Zoom.

In January, the Trump administration said immigration agents were free to make arrests in sensitive locations once considered off limits, such as hospitals, schools and churches.

At Rincon’s church — which he asked not be named for concern about retaliation — fear has colored life in ways large and small.

A congregant in his late 20s who has leukemia postponed his chemotherapy, afraid he could be caught and deported to Guatemala. After he decided to reschedule the upcoming treatment, church leaders agreed they will take turns staying with him at the hospital.

Pastor Carlos Rincon says he has had to cancel a music class for children due to the raids. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

The Trump administration has said immigration agents are free to make arrests in locations once considered off limits such as hospitals, schools and churches. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

A half-day program to provide resources for landscapers and a music class for children were canceled this month after many said they were too afraid to attend. Rincon restarted the music class last week for those who could attend.

On Wednesday, after neighbors told him that immigration agents had been lurking around the area, he warned families against attending a regularly scheduled in-person church service.

Five miles away at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Father Ricardo Gonzalez said church attendance is down at least 30%. The church doesn’t live-stream Mass, though he’s considering it.

Gonzalez said parishioners expect him to have answers, but as an immigrant green card holder himself, he too doesn’t know how to react if immigration agents show up at the church.

“If I get arrested, am I going to be thrown from the country?” he said. “Who is going to help me out?”

Pastor Carlos Rincon and his wife, Amparo, sing and pray during a livestream service at their church.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

For weeks, agents have been arresting those who show up at courthouses for their immigration proceedings.

Volunteers at USC, UCLA, UC Irvine and UC Law San Francisco responded by establishing a free hotline to help people file motions to move their appointments online. The service was the idea of Olu Orange, a lawyer and USC political science and international relations professor who runs the Agents of Change Civil Rights Advocacy Initiative.

Since the hotline (888-462-5211) went live June 15, volunteers have responded to nearly 4,000 calls and helped more than 300 people fill out the form to move their hearings online.

On Friday, Orange answered a call from a girl who sounded about 12 years old, whose parent had been picked up by immigration agents.

“She saw this number on social media and she called and she said, ‘What can I do?’” Orange said. He gave her the number for CHIRLA, a local immigrant rights nonprofit.

Luz Gallegos, executive director of TODEC Legal Center in the Inland Empire, said the pandemic prepared some rural and elderly residents for the current reality because it taught people to use technology — “to go virtual.” Now they have WiFi access and know how to use Zoom.

Some, though, also fear staying digitally connected.

Gallegos said many people who call TODEC’s hotline say they are changing phone companies because they are afraid of being tracked by immigration agents. Others say they’re swapping cellphones for pagers.

A woman identified only as Doña Chela at her home Tuesday. She has packed up her possessions planning to return to her hometown in Michoacan, Mexico, for the first time in more than 25 years. But her brother said it wasn’t safe.

(Julie Leopo / For The Times)

Many of the immigrants served by TODEC now leave their homes only for work, Gallegos said. They have groceries delivered or run to the store when they think border agents are least likely to be on patrol. Before schools let out for the summer, some parents switched their children to online classes.

Some Inland Empire farmworkers now won’t grab their own mail from community mailboxes, Gallegos said, so TODEC has mobilized volunteers to drop off mail, give people rides and help with interpretation needs.

One person helped by the nonprofit is Doña Chela, an undocumented 66-year-old woman who asked to be identified by her nickname.

Many months ago, Doña Chela packed up her possessions after making plans to return to her hometown in Michoacan, Mexico, for the first time since she arrived in the U.S. in 1999. But in April, her brother called to say it wasn’t safe there, that cartel groups had taken over the neighborhood and were extorting residents.

Her husband, a U.S. citizen, has dementia. She thought of moving instead to a border town such as Mexicali, where she and her husband could still be near their three adult U.S.-born daughters.

Doña Chela stands by the packed luggage in her home. (Julie Leopo / For The Times)

Doña Chela waters her home garden. “If it wasn’t for this garden I would not know what to do with myself,” she said in Spanish. (Julie Leopo / For The Times)

But then her husband’s condition began to decline, and now starting over feels too difficult. Even so, she has chosen to keep her clothes, pots and pans, and jewelry packed away — just in case.

Doña Chela doesn’t leave her home except for emergencies. Her daughters bring her groceries because she has stopped driving. She no longer goes to church or makes big batches of tamales for community reunions. She barely sleeps, thinking that agents could burst through her door any time.

“I don’t know what to do anymore,” she said, crying. “I will wait here until they kick me out.”

Her only distraction from constant anxiety is the lush garden she tends to daily, with mangoes, nopales, limes and a variety of herbs.

Gallegos, of TODEC, said the situation faced by Doña Chela and so many others bring to mind a song by Los Tigres del Norte — “La Jaula de Oro.” The golden cage.

“Our community is in a golden cage,” she said. “I hope it’s not too late when this country realizes they need our immigrant workforce to sustain our economy.”

St. John’s Community Health, one of the largest nonprofit community healthcare providers in Los Angeles County that caters to low-income and working-class residents, launched a home visitation program after it surveyed patients and found many canceling appointments “solely due to fear of being apprehended by ICE.”

The clinic, which serves L.A., the Inland Empire and the Coachella Valley, said that since the immigration raids began, more than a third of all patients didn’t show up or canceled their appointments.

Some of those who canceled signed up for telehealth or home visits performed by a small team of medical staff, according to Jim Mangia, the clinic’s chief executive. The clinic is adding another home visitation team to double the amount of visits they perform.

Community coalitions are stepping in to help immigrants who can’t afford to hide. OC Rapid Response Network, for instance, raised enough funds through payment app Venmo to send 14 street vendors home.

Robb Smith stands by the food he delivered after he unloaded his truck at a food drop site on Monday in Paramount.

(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)

Robb Smith, who runs Alley Cat Deliveries, said he has seen requests for grocery deliveries grow by about 25%.

He doesn’t ask his customers if they’re immigrants in hiding, but there are signs that people are afraid to leave their house. One woman, who said she was making an inquiry for a friend, asked him if he saw any ICE officers when he was picking up items at Costco.

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1. Tito Rodriguez helps unload Robb Smith’s truck of drieg goods and groceries at a drop site on Monday in Paramount. 2. Robb Smith, left, unloads his truck with the help of Tito Rodriguez at the drop site on Monday in Paramount. 3. Robb Smith carries a box of groceries down a driveway Monday in Long Beach. He founded and runs Alley Cat Deliveries. (Luke Johnson/Los Angeles Times)

Glen Curado, the founder and chief executive of World Harvest Food Bank in Los Angeles, said there has been a significant drop in people coming in to pick up groceries in person. Up to 100 families visit the food bank on a weekday, down from the usual high of 150, he said.

The food bank has a program, called Cart With A Heart, in which people can donate $50 toward fresh produce, protein and other staples to feed two families for a week. The donors can then take those groceries to people sheltering in place.

“It’s almost like a war scene,” Curado said. “You hide here. I’ll go out and I’ll get it for you, and I’ll bring it back — that mentality.”

Castillo reported from Washington and Wong from San Francisco. Times staff writer Melissa Gomez in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo took a break on a warm day, wiped his brow and pointed out the Folgers coffee can in the corner of his office.

He’s told the story many times, but felt it was worth repeating, given recent events.

For years, Gordo’s parents were undocumented. They crossed the border from Zacatecas, Mexico, when he was a young child, settled in Pasadena and raised their family. Gordo’s father was a dishwasher and cook; his mother was a seamstress in a factory that used to be across from City Hall. The family lived in a converted garage.

“Under my parents’ bed was a Folgers coffee can, and in that can was cash, a list of names and phone numbers, copies of birth certificates and identification cards,” said Gordo, who was the oldest child and describes himself as a latchkey kid.

“If my parents didn’t come home, I was to take that can and go knock on the neighbor’s house” and get help, Gordo said.

The can in his office isn’t the original. It’s a replica, and a reminder.

Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo is the son of immigrant parents.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

With federal raids across Southern California, families and neighborhoods have been reeling. People have been afraid to leave the house following arrests at car washes, building supply centers, restaurants, the Garment District and street vending locations.

Gordo knows how they feel.

“We lived in fear, and that’s what’s so offensive about this, and painful, frankly,” he said.

In Pasadena, Gordo said, it hasn’t been clear whether the sweeps are being conducted by legit federal agents or vigilantes. Their cars are unmarked. Their faces are shielded. Their uniforms don’t answer any questions.

In recent days, a man exited a vehicle in Pasadena and pointed a gun in the direction of protesters before speeding away, emergency lights flashing. At a bus stop, several men were detained, some of whom were on their way to work on construction sites in the post-fire rebuilding of Altadena, according to Gordo.

And the city canceled some swimming and other recreational programs Saturday amid fears of increased federal enforcement activity. Gordo told The Times that masked men with guns and vests had chased several men at Villa Parke.

“They’re creating volatile, dangerous situations,” Gordo told me, saying he fears that bullets will fly through neighborhoods, or that police will arrive on scene and not know what’s what or who’s who.

Even people with legal status are wary, Gordo said, because some of the raids appear to be arbitrary and indiscriminate. As my colleague Rachel Uranga reported, the majority of those arrested in the first 10 days of June in Southern California had no criminal records, despite Trump’s vow to reel in “the worst of the worst.”

“I’m carrying my passport with me,” Gordo said.

Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo outside City Hall in Pasadena.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

“The overreach is stigmatizing an entire swath of our society. Whether you look or sound like an immigrant, in the eyes of others, you are automatically considered an outsider, and that’s morally and legally wrong.”

Gordo’s positions on immigration enforcement haven’t always gotten straight A’s from immigrant rights advocates. In 2017, L.A. Progressive said Gordo’s coffee can story was compelling, but accused the then-councilman of waffling on a proposed city ordinance prohibiting police contacts with any federal law enforcement agencies.

The article said Gordo was opposed to local police “having contacts with ICE,” but said on one occasion that he “favored an exception for bad guys.”

Gordo ultimately voted in favor of that ordinance, which passed unanimously, and told me he feels now as he did then. The vast majority of undocumented immigrants are here to work hard and create opportunities for their families, he said. Same as his family. But there have to be consequences for “bad actors,” he added, and that’s a criminal justice matter, not an immigration issue.

“If the federal government or our own police believe there is someone who has violated the law, they should address that issue,” Gordo said. “But they should do it respecting the Constitution of the United States, and what the federal government is doing now is missing due process.”

Also missing, says Gordo, is any conversation about immigration reform that would serve the needs of employers and give immigrants a pathway to making even greater contributions.

He recalled that when he was about 10, his family moved back to Mexico temporarily as part of the process of establishing legal status in the U.S., which was made possible under the Carter administration. His father is a U.S. citizen, as was his late mother. Gordo and a sibling became attorneys; another is a doctor and yet another is an educator.

Now, said Gordo, there’s no path to legalization. There’s just this hypocritical system in which there is demand for immigrant labor in many industries, along with demonization of these very contributors.

Pablo Alvarado, a Pasadena resident and executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, told me he’s had differences with Gordo over the years. But he thinks the events of the last month have prompted the mayor to more fully embrace his immigrant identity.

“He’s stepping up to the moment and I’m very proud of what he’s doing,” said Alvarado, who has joined Gordo at vigils and demonstrations. “It’s one thing to tell the story of where you came from, and another thing to … confront the powers … behind these unlawful ICE operations. … I think he’s been fearless.”

Gordo told me he visited the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles on June 18, with Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) and state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Alhambra), to check on arrestees. They were denied entry, but Gordo met a distraught woman from Pomona who was not being allowed to deliver heart medication to her husband.

Gordo offered his services as an attorney and was allowed entry along with the woman. He said he later learned that the husband had been arrested during his lunch break on a landscaping job, had been in the country 22 years with no criminal record and was in the process of obtaining a green card.

Gordo said that when he and the woman entered the detention center, the husband and wife were separated by a glass partition.

“She was crying and shaking,” Gordo said. “He was telling her it was all going to be okay. He was comforting her, and trying to smile.”

The partition had a small opening. They couldn’t fit their hands through it, but Gordo watched as the pair hooked their pinky fingers.

“All she could muster was, ‘I told you,’” Gordo said. “‘I told you not to go to work.’”

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For 24 years, immigrants lacking documentation who graduated from high school in California have received in-state tuition benefits at public colleges and universities under a law that’s given tens of thousands access to higher education that many couldn’t otherwise afford.

When the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill 540 in 2001, it was the second state in the nation — after Texas — to embrace such tuition policies. Bipartisan efforts quickly grew across the country, with more than 20 states adopting similar policies.

But recent court actions by the Trump administration are causing alarm among immigrant students and casting a shadow over the tuition benefit in California, the state with the largest population of people living in the U.S. without legal authorization.

On June 4, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Texas over its tuition statute for immigrants without authorization, alleging it violated a federal law that prevents people who do not have legal status from receiving public benefits. Texas did not defend its law and instead put its support behind the Trump administration, leaving 57,000 undocumented college students in the state in educational limbo after a federal judge blocked the statute.

Last week, the DOJ launched a similar suit in Kentucky, asking a federal judge to strike down a state practice that it says unlawfully gives undocumented immigrants access to in-state college tuition while American citizens from other states pay higher tuition to attend the same schools.

“Under federal law, schools cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” Atty. Gen. Bondi said of the Texas lawsuit in a statement that signaled a broader fight. “The Justice Department will relentlessly fight to vindicate federal law and ensure that U.S. citizens are not treated like second-class citizens anywhere in the country.”

Is California next?

Legal experts say that it’s not a matter of “if” but when and how the Trump administration will come for California’s law. The White House is already battling the state over liberal policies, including support of transgender students in school sports; sanctuary cities opposing ongoing federal immigration raids; and diversity, equity and inclusion programs in education.

“We are just waiting to see when it’s California’s turn,” said Kevin R. Johnson, the dean of the UC Davis law school, who specializes in immigration. Johnson predicted the White House was going after “lower-hanging fruit” in more conservative states before California, where Trump will face “firm resistance.”

The potential threat has shaken California’s undocumented students.

“If I no longer qualify for lower tuition, I really don’t know what I would do,” said Osmar Enríquez, who graduated last month with an associate’s degree from Santa Rosa Junior College and will enroll at UC Berkeley in August to embark on an undergraduate degree in media studies.

The difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition for people like Enríquez can be thousands of dollars at a community college and tens of thousands at CSU and UC campuses. International students pay out-of-state rates. At Santa Rosa Junior College, the average tuition for two semesters for an in-state student is $621. For an out-of-state student, it’s $5,427.

“What I see the Trump administration doing is trying to exclude us,” said Enríquez, who aspires to one day operate a public relations company. “They don’t want us to get educated or to reach positions of power. And with everything going on now, they are just trying to dehumanize us any way they can.”

More than 80,000 undocumented college students in California

Campus and university-level data on undocumented student populations can be difficult to estimate.

Although universities and colleges keep track of how many students without documentation receive tuition exemptions under AB 540, the data also include citizens who qualify for in-state tuition. These students grew up in the state and graduated from a California high school before their families moved elsewhere.

Numbers are also complicated by changes in the California Dream Act Application, which was established for students lacking documentation to apply for state aid but has expanded to allow students who are citizens and have an undocumented parent.

Out of the University of California system’s nearly 296,000 students, it estimates that between 2,000 and 4,000 are undocumented. Across California State University campuses, there are about 9,500 immigrants without documentation enrolled out of 461,000 total students. The state’s biggest undocumented group, estimated to be 70,000, comprises community college students and recent graduates such as Enríquez.

Born in Mexico and brought by his family to the U.S. when he was a 1-year-old, Enríquez said in-state tuition has made his education monumentally more affordable. At his next stop, UC Berkeley, in-state tuition and fees last year amounted to $16,980. Out-of-state and international students had to pay a total of $54,582.

What students say

Several undocumented students from UCLA, Cal State Los Angeles and other schools declined interviews with The Times or requested to be cited without their names, saying they were fearful of identifying themselves publicly as the federal government undertakes a third week of immigration raids across Southern California.

“I just want to go to school. What is wrong with that?” said an undocumented graduate student at Cal State Los Angeles who received his undergraduate degree at a UC campus. The Latin American studies student asked for his name to be withheld because of concern over immigration enforcement agents targeting him.

“I don’t only want to go a school, I want to go to a public university. I want to contribute to my university. I want to become a professor and teach others and support the state of California,” he said. “Why are we so bent on keeping students from getting an education and giving back?”

Sandra, a Cal State Northridge student who asked to be only identified by her first name, had a similar view. An undocumented immigrant whose parents brought her from Mexico to Los Angeles at age two, she said she would not be in college without the in-state tuition law.

“I was not eligible for DACA, so money is thin,” Sandra said, referencing the Obama-era program that gave work authorization to undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children but hasn’t taken new applications since 2021. “We save and we squeeze all we can out of fellowships and scholarships to pay in hopes that we use our education to make a difference and make an income later.”

Legal questions

The Trump administration’s challenge to the tuition rules rest on a 1996 federal law that says people in the U.S. without legal permission should “not be eligible on the basis of residence within a state … for any post-secondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit … without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident.”

“There are questions about exactly what that means,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA Law School. “Does that apply to universities that do not use residency as a requirement for the tuition rate but instead use high school graduation in the state?” he said, explaining that state practices differ.

In California, an undocumented immigrant who did not graduate from a high school in the state would typically not qualify for reduced tuition.

The Justice Department has argued in court that giving in-state tuition to immigrants without proper authorization violates the federal law. Some Trump opponents point out that the law does not speak specifically to tuition rates, although courts have interpreted the word “benefit” to include cheaper tuition.

In the recent Texas case, undocumented students, represented by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, have filed a motion in court, asking the judge to allow them to argue in support of upholding reduced tuition rates.

The tuition policies have survived other legal challenges.

Before Trump administration intervened, the Texas law appeared to be legally sound after a federal appeals court ruled in 2023 that the University of North Texas could charge out-of-state students more than it charges in-state undocumented immigrants. In that case, the court said the plaintiffs did not make good case that out-of state students were illegally treated differently than noncitizens. But the court suggested there could be other legal challenges to tuition rates for immigrants lacking documentation.

The California law has also withstood challenges. The state Supreme Court upheld its legality in 2010 after out-of-state students sued. The next year, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of the case.

The California court concluded that undocumented immigrants were not receiving preferential treatment because of their immigration status but because they attended and graduated from California schools. Justices said U.S. citizens who attended and graduated from the state’s schools had the same opportunity.

Still, momentum has built to abolish in-state tuition rates for immigrants without legal documentation.

This year, lawmakers in Florida — which had a rule on the books for more than a decade allowing tuition waivers for undocumented students — eliminated the option. Prior to the federal action against Texas, legislators in the state also tried and failed to follow Florida’s lead. During this year’s legislative sessions, bills were also introduced in Kansas and Minnesota, although they have not passed.

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2025-26 revised budget proposal reneges on his signature policy to provide free healthcare coverage to all low-income undocumented immigrants as costs exceed expectations and the state anticipates challenging economic times ahead.

Newsom’s office said the governor’s spending plan, which will be released late Wednesday morning, calls for requiring all undocumented adults to pay $100 monthly premiums to receive Medi-Cal coverage and for blocking all new adult applications to the program as of Jan. 1.

The cost share will reduce the financial burden on the state and could lower the total number of people enrolled in the healthcare program if some immigrants cannot afford the new premiums. Freezing enrollment may prevent the price tag of the program from continuing to balloon after more people signed up for coverage than the state anticipated.

The governor’s office said the changes will save a combined $5.4 billion through 2028-29, but did not detail the cost savings in the upcoming fiscal year that begins July 1.

Newsom is expected Wednesday to project a deficit for California in the fiscal year ahead, which includes higher than expected Medi-Cal costs, and more significant shortfall estimates in the following years. In the current budget year, the governor and lawmakers approved a $2.8-billion appropriation and took out a separate $3.4-billion loan just to pay for extra expenses for Medi-Cal through June.

The rising costs have drawn criticism from Republicans and added pressure on Democrats to consider scaling back coverage for immigrants. A recent poll found strong support among California voters for offering free healthcare to undocumented children. Just over half of voters supported providing the healthcare to eligible immigrants 50 years old or above, and a plurality — 49% — favored providing the coverage to adults between the ages of 18 and 49.

Medi-Cal, the California offshoot of the federal Medicaid program, provides healthcare coverage to eligible low-income residents. After the Republican Congress this year passed a budget blueprint that includes billions of dollars in spending reductions, fears also persist that cuts to federal Medicaid funding may be looming.

California became the first state in the nation to offer healthcare to all income-eligible immigrants one year ago after the expansion was approved by Newsom and the Democratic-led Legislature.

Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, signed a bill in 2015 that offered Medi-Cal coverage to all children younger than 19.

Newsom grew the Medi-Cal coverage pool to include all income-eligible immigrants in California under a multiyear expansion by age categories that began in 2020 and concluded in 2024.

California’s new budget shortfall comes in addition to $27.3 billion in financial remedies, including $16.1 billion in cuts and a $7.1-billion withdrawal from the state’s rainy day fund, that lawmakers and the governor already agreed to make in 2025-26.

The deficit marks the third year in a row that Newsom and lawmakers have been forced to reduce spending after dedicating more money to programs than the state has available to spend. Poor projections, the high price tag of Democratic policy promises and a reluctance to make long-term sweeping cuts have added to the deficit at a time when the governor regularly touts California’s place as the fourth-largest economy in the world.

On Tuesday afternoon, Newsom’s office said President Trump’s tariff policies have also hurt California’s financial standing and projected that the state will lose out on $16 billion in revenue from January 2025 through June 2026 because of the levies on imported goods and the effect of economic uncertainty on the stock market.

May 12 (UPI) — A federal judge ruled Monday that the Internal Revenue Service can share taxpayer data with immigration authorities to locate undocumented immigrants for deportation.

District Judge Dabney Friedrich, an appointee from President Donald Trump‘s first term, denied a preliminary injunction filed by immigrant rights groups, who argued sharing information violated taxpayer confidentiality laws.

“Plaintiffs Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, Immigrant Solidarity DuPage, Somos Un Pueblo Unido and Inclusive Action for the City bring this action seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent the Internal Revenue Service from sharing personal tax information with the Department of Homeland Security for immigration enforcement purposes,” Friedrich wrote, adding “the court will deny the motion.”

The ruling is a win for the Trump administration and the president’s immigration agenda.

Last month, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem agreed to allow U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to submit names of immigrants for cross-verification of tax records. Under the data-sharing deal, DHS can ask the IRS to confirm the addresses of suspected undocumented immigrants in the United States.

Friedrich said sharing information between federal agencies to enforce immigration laws does not violate confidentiality laws.

“At its core, this case presents a narrow legal issue: Does the Memorandum of Understanding between the IRS and DHS violate the Internal Revenue Code? It does not,” according to Friedrich’s order.

Last month, acting IRS Commissioner Melanie Kraus resigned over the data-sharing deal. Former acting IRS Commissioner Doug O’Donnell also refused to sign the agreement in February, before he retired.

While the IRS can share data to help in criminal investigations, the tax agency can not share data on civil issues or to help with deportations.

According to the Justice Department, the data-sharing agreement complies with the law because requests for IRS information will target only those under criminal investigation.

“Requesting and receiving information for civil enforcement purposes would constitute a cognizable injury, but none of the organizations have established that such an injury is imminent,” Friedrich wrote.

“The Memorandum only allows sharing information for criminal investigations … On this limited record, the court cannot assume that DHS intends to use the shared information to facilitate civil rather than criminal proceedings.”