CA workers could lose deportation protections

Immigration advocates are sounding the alarm over the prospect of mass deportations upending California immigrant communities, which Donald Trump has vowed to initiate when he returns to the White House in January.

But smaller programs are also at risk, writes CalMatters Capitol reporter Jeanne Kuang. To ensure that labor laws are being enforced, a federal program under the Biden administration grants temporary legal status to undocumented workers who are alleged victims or witnesses in certain labor investigations. The program helps state investigators connect with undocumented workers who may otherwise fear retaliation from their employers for making workplace complaints.

Since January 2023, about 7,700 workers nationwide have benefitted from the program. But immigration attorneys expect Trump to terminate it once in office, and California law firms are no longer pursuing new cases under the program.

With California home to nearly 1.5 million workers who are undocumented immigrants — about 7% of the workforce — one attorney said the end of the program “will return workers to a time when they fear deportation for asking for minimum wage, their paychecks or any other protections they have.”

Learn more about the Deferred Action for Labor Enforcement program in Jeanne’s story.

Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom is warning that mass deportations would hit California more than any other state and would crush the state’s economy. On a Zoom call Friday hosted by his Campaign for Democracy political action committee, Newsom said Trump is “going to come harder” on his campaign pledges in a second term.

But the governor said he’ll fight back. One example: The special legislative session he prompted that’ll begin Dec. 2. “We’re more than prepared,” Newsom said. “We have a lot more up our sleeve, it’s more than just a special session.”

Newsom is in Washington, D.C. to meet with Biden administration officials and members of California’s congressional delegation to press for federal disaster funding, environmental waivers and other priorities.

Trump, meanwhile, responded to Newsom on Truth Social earlier Friday: “Governor Gavin Newscum is trying to KILL our Nation’s beautiful California” and is “stopping all of the GREAT things that can be done to ‘Make California Great Again.’”

More on Newsom: The governor has agreed to cough up $13,000 in campaign finance fines, acknowledging the failure to report on time more than $14 million in charitable payments made by foundations and businesses at the request of Newsom and his campaign. This case, which is to be officially resolved Nov. 21, is among those highlighted in last month’s CalMattters investigation into enforcement delays by California’s campaign finance watchdog.

The Fair Political Practices Commission said Newsom committed eight violations and should have known better given his long political experience. Under state law, officials must disclose these behested payments within 30 days. Newsom’s staff has blamed the reporting delays on donors reporting the payments after the filing deadlines. 

• The commission, in the settlement: “There is inherent public harm in non-disclosure of the payments because the public is deprived of important information and deprived of the timely opportunity to scrutinize the payments.”

And to mark Veterans Day, Newsom announced he had granted five pardons to veterans, most of whom served time for drug-related charges. The governor is also working to grant a posthumous pardon to a Vietnam War veteran who received the Medal of Honor in 1971.

Let’s get into some criminal justice news:

Prop. 6 fails: With voters’ rejection of Proposition 6, involuntary servitude remains in the state constitution. And as CalMatters local news fellow Cayla Mihalovich explains, Prop. 6 supporters and some political experts point to its ballot language as part of the reason it failed.

Forced prison labor as a form of punishment is considered by some as one of the last vestiges of slavery. But the word “slavery” did not appear on the measure’s ballot language and summary, which is written by the state’s Attorney General’s Office. In Nevada this election, a measure similar to Prop. 6 that referenced slavery passed with 60% voter approval. 

Assemblymember Lori Wilson, a Suisun City Democrat who authored the bill that placed Prop. 6 on the ballot, said using clearer language could have given voters “the historical context and moral imperative” behind Prop. 6.

Read more about Prop. 6’s failure in Cayla’s story.

College degrees at Pelican Bay: Pelican Bay State Prison is one of the most notorious prisons in the country, but it’s also home to a first-of-its-kind bachelor’s degree program, reports Wayne D’Orio of The Hechinger Report.

Through Cal Poly Humboldt, incarcerated students — all majoring in communications — attend four classes each semester. The college hopes the program will help students land well-paying jobs once released, and improve their daily behavior. Within the next five years, the college also aims to add other majors.

After California allowed community colleges to receive state funding for in‑person courses at state prisons in 2014, prison education programs have steadily expanded. Recent efforts by the Newsom administration also seek to transform the prison at San Quentin into a critical rehabilitation center.

Learn more about the Humboldt education program in the story.

The California Air Resources Board approved new rules to the state’s low-carbon fuel standard program, which aim to reduce air pollution but could also increase gas prices, writes CalMatters climate reporter Alejandro Lazo.

For weeks before the Friday vote, the rules faced strong pushback from Republican legislators. The air board’s 12-2 vote followed seven hours of public comments and four hours of discussion among board members. 

• Assemblymember Tom Lackey, a Palmdale Republican: “We’re the hard working men and women here in the state of California. We build homes, we fix roads, and we serve you when you dine out. To do this, we must drive hours each day to work to put food on the table for our families. This measure before you will cause us financial pain.”

Some Democrats agreed with the concerns: Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria of Merced sent a letter to the board a day before the vote arguing that “even a modest increase” in gas prices will disproportionately impact residents in her rural district. And state Sen. Melissa Hurtado of Bakersfield said the new rules “could hurt industries like agriculture and logistics.”

The two air board members who voted against the rules were Dean Florez, a former state senator, and Diane Takvorian, an environmental justice advocate. Florez argued that the strategy behind the fuel program appeared flawed, while Takvorian criticized how some polluters could benefit from the program’s credit-buying system.

Read more about the air board’s vote and the new rules in Alejandro’s story.

The union representing 37,000 service and patient care workers at the University of California plans to hold a two-day strike Nov. 20. It’s expected to impact all 10 UC campuses and five medical centers. The union says UC isn’t bargaining fairly, which the system denies. 

Meanwhile, Kaiser Permanente mental health workers are in the fourth week of their strike. CalMatters local news fellow reporter Joe Garcia and video strategy director Robert Meeks have a video segment on Joe’s story about the labor dispute as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal.