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State Senator Introduces 'Fight For California' Bills To Stand Against Trump's Wall And Muslim Registry
State Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) (via Facebook)
With California expected to be a bastion of Blue Dissent for the next four years, one state senator has already geared up to fight the forthcoming Trump administration. On Monday, Democratic State Senator Ricardo Lara of Bell Gardens announced that he will introduce a package of three bills in response to the promises made by President-elect Donald Trump on the campaign trail. Dubbed the "Fight For California" package, Lara's three bills strive to uphold the state's "commitment to American values of inclusion, diversity, and freedom from oppression." They will address, among other things, a proposed Muslim registry, as well as the hyped-up wall on the border between the U.S. and Mexico.
On Election Day, "Californians voted overwhelmingly to uphold our values of inclusion and diversity," Senator Lara said in a statement. Over 62% of Californians voted for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump (with a margin of over 4 million votes) and passed a large slate of progressive ballot measures including legalized marijuana and bilingual education.
"We're not going to allow a wall that harms our environment and our economy," said Lara. "We're not going to allow personal data on individual Californians' religious beliefs to be used to compile an unconstitutional database."
Among Trump's biggest campaign promises was, of course, a massive wall that he would somehow get Mexico to pay for. One of Lara's bills would require voter approval for this prospective wall that could "harm California's environment... or California's economy, through trade and tourism." Trump, it should be noted, has frequently wavered on the wall idea since it is clearly unfeasible, too expensive and just plain ludicrous. Most recently he said portions of the border wouldn't need a wall because of "vicious rivers".
Another one of Lara's bills would prohibit the state government or agencies from providing information to the federal government for a database of people simply based on their religion. This is a rebuke to Trump's so-called Muslim registry.
A third bill would prevent local agencies from contracting with for-profit companies to detain immigrants, and require detention facilities to meet health and safety standards set up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to the L.A. Times the bill is a reintroduction of a bill vetoed by Governor Jerry Brown earlier this year.
"We're going to fight for California and for our values of democracy, freedom, and basic human decency," said Lara.
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