US Senator leads campaign to keep California a sanctuary state

(photo: Kevin de Leon/Facebook)

With the Trump administration pursuing their own agendas from immigration, to science and environment,California is raising the stakes in terms of battling against immigration.

California Senate President Kevin de Leon leads the campaign to turn California into a sanctuary state. Introduced as the Senate Bill 54 or the California Values Act, this bill ensures the safety of immigrants by banning immigration enforcement as well as ensuring that state and local resources and revenue are not used for mass deportations.

De Leon represents a district that is comprised of nearly 18% percent of the Asian community primarily, FIlipinos. In an interview with ABS-CBN’s “Balitang Amerika”, the senator mentioned his encounter with the Filipino community.

“When my mother passed away, she was very, very sick. As a result, she couldn’t cook for us. So, the Filipino women in her network really stepped up and came through for us. That’s [when] for the first time, I started eating chicken adobo, pancit and lumpia and white rice because they would cook up and show up at our house,” he said.
This is just one among many pro-immigrant bills that has been introduced in legislation such as the banning of creating a Muslim registry and providing aid to the families facing deportation. It  garnered opposition from the Republicans. The President himself threatened to cut the state’s federal funding.