Less than 48 hours after Donald Trump was declared the winner in the 2024 election, California Gov. Gavin Newsom called for a special session of the State Legislature that begins this week. His aim is to “Trump-proof” the state before the president-elect takes office on Jan. 20.
High on the list of the things that California political leaders hope to guard against is the incoming administration’s ability to make good on its campaign promise to deport illegal aliens. Attorney General Rob Bonta, who aspires to succeed Newsom in the governor’s office, is wasting no time in drafting lawsuits that he hopes will stymie Trump administration enforcement efforts. “I can promise to the undocumented immigrant community in California that I and my team have been thinking about you for months, and the harm that might come from the Trump administration 2.0. We’ll do everything in our power and use the full authority of our office to defend you,” Bonta assured the more than 3 million illegal aliens who reside in the state.
One time zone to the east, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston declared protection of illegal aliens to be a moral imperative and a supreme act of heroism. “It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right?” Johnston told a local newspaper. Defiantly, Johnston threatened to deploy Denver police to block Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from doing their jobs and declared his willingness to go to jail in order to protect illegal aliens in his city – an offer that Tom Homan, who is designated to be the Border Czar in the Trump administration, said he would be willing to accommodate.
Similar vows of defiance have been echoed by political leaders of resolute sanctuary jurisdictions across the country. The problem for the leaders of The Resistance, Version 2.0, is that there are far fewer followers this time around. After four years of the Biden-Harris administration, Americans have had a taste of what it is like to live in country with open borders, and they have decided that they don’t like it very much. Nor do they care much for sanctuary policies that have flooded their communities with illegal aliens, or other forms of lawlessness promoted by these same public officials.
These same myopic politicians are again misreading public sentiment as we approach Inauguration Day 2025 – none more so than Gov. Newsom. Even as he openly concedes that he and his party have been living in a “bubble,” resulting in them getting “shellacked” in this election over “quality of life” issues, he vows to be “aggressive in pushing back” against Trump administration efforts to enforce immigration laws in California.
He will be doing so in defiance of clear evidence that large majorities of voters in California are yearning for a return to common sense. Up and down his very blue state, voters recalled or defeated soft-on-crime mayors and district attorneys, and overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative to make shoplifting a crime once again.
Mass illegal immigration has become a huge quality-of-life issue during the past four years. Nearly 11 million illegal aliens crossing our borders has imposed enormous burdens on big cities and small towns, brought criminal gangs to once peaceful communities, and eroded a sense of cohesion and social order in the places where they have settled in large numbers. None other than Mayor Eric Adams described the illegal immigration crisis as being so dire that it threatens to “destroy” New York City (even as he incongruously defends the city’s sanctuary policies).
Increasingly, the resistance movement appears to be composed of bubble-inhabiting leaders who seem oblivious to their lack of followers. A Nov. 25 CBS News poll found that by a 57 percent to 43 percent margin, Americans support the deportation of all illegal aliens in the U.S. – a goal that even Tom Homan acknowledges may not be achievable over the next four years.
Thus, as Gov. Newsom and out-of-touch legislators huddle in Sacramento, and Mayor Johnston stands guard over migrant encampments as winter sets in in Denver, they will be doing so with increasingly little public support. When he officially assumes the role of Border Czar on Jan. 20, Homan will be doing so with a mandate from the American people to carry out the deportations that President-elect Trump promised during his campaign, beginning with the removal of criminals, people with final orders of removal and recently arrived illegal aliens who have no real ties in this country.
The blunt-speaking Homan has a terse message to those state and local officials who would attempt to impede ICE’s mission: “Don’t cross that line.” They would be wise not to test him.
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