Newsom signs budget bills with sharp message on immigration legal aid

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a pair of budget bills designed to aid the state's legal battles with the Trump administration -- and added an unusual signing message.

"None of the funding in this bill is intended to be used for immigration-related legal services for noncitizens convicted of serious or violent felonies," Newsom wrote in a signing message for SBX1-2 issued Friday afternoon. "To the extent that further clarification is necessary, I encourage the Legislature to pass subsequent legislation providing that this funding is to be allocated consistent with the restrictions set forth in paragraph 3 of subdivision (b) of Section 13303 of the Welfare and Institutions Code."

This verbiage addresses an ongoing debate Democrats had as they debated the bill. According to a news release sent by the office of Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher, R-Chico, Democrats rejected Republican amendments that "would have barred the use of legal aid funds to defend illegal immigrants with felony convictions from deportation."

"These votes show just how out of touch the Democratic supermajority has become," Gallagher said in the release. "There is no reason to oppose these policies other than petty partisanship."

Democrats countered that existing laws already barred the use of the funds to defend immigrants convicted of serious or violent crimes. The code section Newsom cited bars the use of the budget funds being used "to provide legal services to an individual who has been convicted of, or who is currently appealing a conviction for, a violent felony."

According to a Senate analysis, SBX1-2 "provides $25 million (one-time General Fund) in the 2024 budget act for immigration services" in the current 2024-25 budget. This includes $10 million to the Legal Services Trust Fund to "provide legal services to vulnerable persons at risk of detention, deportation" or other serious consequences. Another $10 million will go to the state's Immigration Services Funding program, with the final $5 million sent to the Judicial Council to distribute to legal aid groups.

SBX1-1 provides $25 million to the California Department of Justice to defend the state against legal actions by the administration of President Donald Trump. Both supporters and opponents said the bill was meant to "Trump proof" the state, though Newsom criticized that language.

According to Gallagher's office, Republicans attempted to add amendments to SBX1-1 to bar the "anti-Trump slush fund from being used to defend public officials who willingly violate federal law." Newsom signed that bill without issuing a separate signing statement.