Senate Floor

Secretary will call the roll.

[Roll Call]

A quorum is present. Would the Members and our guests beyond the rail and in the gallery please rise. We will be led in prayer this morning by Senator Laird, after which, please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.

We hold these truths to be self evident that all men persons are created equal. From the Declaration of Independence, July 41776. Gracious God of the past, present and future, as we celebrate the birthday of our national Independence, we confess our ongoing dependence on you.

We pray that we will continue to make real the courage of our forefathers and foremothers in these tempestuous days. May our freedom of speech serve to build community and collaboration. May our freedom of worship lead us to gratitude for all that we have received.

And may our freedom from want and fear enrich us with creative ideas for ensuring the life, liberty and happiness of our brothers and sisters in need. May all that is high and fine in the rise to greet each new day, confident that we will achieve the ideals that we know to be self evident. Amen.

Members, please join me in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge. Members, without objection, we will move to Assembly third reading to take up file item 133, Assembly Bill 1138. Secretary, please read

Assembly Bill 1138 by Assembly Member Zbur an act relating to taxation, making an appropriation, therefore, and declaring the urgency thereof to take effect immediately.

Senator Allen, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam President. Members, I'm so pleased to stand and present AB 1138 as a proud joint author alongside my colleague. Assembly Members of Zbur greatly appreciate this body's broad bipartisan support of my SB630 earlier this summer that was substantially similar to this Bill. Thank you to my colleagues on this floor who were joint authors.

Our Senator from Thousand Oaks, San Fernando, Alhambra. We had a bipartisan co authorship. Our friend from the North County from San Mateo, from Baldwin Park. This Bill expands and modernizes the film and TV tax credit program to increase production and increase solely needed jobs for our workers in the entertainment industry.

This Bill, in combination with the increase to funding that we passed in SB132, earlier this week was just. Which was just signed into law yesterday down in Los Angeles. It'll bring California's production back from the brink. The program embodies the values of our state. And I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you. Seeing Senator Niello, you are recognized.

Thank you. Madam President. I rise in respectful opposition to this. I realize I am probably a minority of one here, as was evidenced when we voted on this some time ago. But first of all, I'm certainly proud that California has been home to this creative industry for many years. My opposition has nothing to do with that.

My opposition does, however, have to do with generating or to dedicating state resources to an economic activity that has little effect on the state's economy as a whole. May I have permission to read?

Permission granted.

Our own Legislative Analyst Office concluded that there is currently no compelling evidence to suggest that film tax credits have a positive effect on. On the size of the state's economy overall. And it is largely concentrated in one area. I'm told that the credits are available to productions in other areas. And that's true, but largely in one area.

And the nature of this activity is entirely transient. And that's why the credit works, by the way. It does work. A set is set up, the production is made, it's taken down and it's gone. And that's why the credit works. And the state with the highest credit is going to attract these productions.

That's true, but it's a race to the bottom. Our highest tax credit now is going to be matched by Georgia or New York or someone else, and productions will go there. It is a race to the bottom. And there's a very important opportunity cost here.

Tax credits to incentivize manufacturing, as an example, results in a facility actually being built in California, and that is permanent and stays in California. It's not set up and then taken down and isn't there anymore. It is a permanent economic driver.

Plus, to a certain extent, and has been stated in some of the materials, it is an attempt for California to overcome the very high cost of doing business here. We're essentially subsidizing the. The activity because we are so expensive to do business here.

And back to the opportunity cost, we might be better off taking a look at state policies that actually discourage economic development, particularly in the area of agriculture and so many other regulatory issues that make California a very difficult place in. In which to do business. This tax credit works, but it doesn't benefit us. I urge a no vote.

Thank you Madam President, I rise in support of AB 1138. This is important for not just my district, not just Hollywood, but for all of California. This is an investment in over 700,000 jobs. This is an investment in money that we see in return across the state. And it's an investment in our history.

I mean, Hollywood has been here for over 100 years. We want it to be here another hundred years. But I do agree with the Senator from Sacramento, my colleague, that this is a Band aid. This is just the beginning.

We need to do so much more when it comes to regulation, when it comes to the cost of doing business in this state in order to be truly competitive, not just in the United States, but really globally.

And I want to acknowledge that even the President, President Trump, proposed a tariff on Hollywood on outside film industry because he recognizes the importance of film and production in the United States. So we have commitments, I think, both at the federal level here in California.

This is just the beginning, but we're going to do a lot more work. I want to thank the Senate Senator from Santa Monica for working so hard on this. I'm with you. And we have a lot more work to do. And I'm looking forward to voting aye today.

Thank you, Madam President, on behalf of the State of California, that all of us are looking to bring people into California, continue working in California. And those who are in the industry that has made California so well known across this globe, of course, is the film industry Hollywood.

And for years upon years, Los Angeles County, the Board of Supervisors, City Council have been trying to work together as we've noticed that filmmakers have been leaving the State of California in Los Angeles County and Hollywood for years now. This is a big step forward that shows California is working with the industry.

California is ready to work with, with the industry. There's so many people that thrive every single day because of what we do in California. So now let's step forward and make sure we understand that this industry is vital to our great state. And I'm in total support, AB 1138.

And I thank the author and I recognize that our pro tem, our Governor, and our leadership here in the Senate and the Assembly and have joined forces to get this Bill across. So to our Senator from Glendale, Los Angeles County, I thank you and I applaud you.

But all of us, let's go ahead and support the men and women that makes this industry so great. Thank you.

Senator Allen, I didn't know you moved to Glendale.

That's way Back. Way back.

Thank you, Madam President. I also stand in strong support of AB 1138. I think a lot of us are talking about the film industry as a separate entity, but the reality is that We've lost approximately 17,000 jobs in the surrounding areas.

What people don't realize sometimes that the benefit is not just for the film industry or TV industry, it's everyone around there. I know, for example, my school was always a destination point for. For the industry.

And every time that there was that we're filming in our school, we ended up gaining a library, books, things that are useful for our community. And so it's not just the industry that wins with this tax credit, is everyone wins, and that's our identity.

I think that we have been known to be the leaders in that industry, and we need to continue to be, and I think it's so important. Thank you to the Senator from Santa Monica and, you know, both the Assembly and the Senate for bringing this forward.

I think that we need to continue to show that we stand strong with the industry. We stand strong with the businesses. You know, I had conversations with food trucks that used to go to these film and sets to sell their foods, and now they're not being called.

So it's not, again, not just the industry, it's every other job that will win with this tax credit. So I urge an aye vote.

Thank you, Madam President. I stand in strong support of AB 1138.

And as a principal co author of the film and tax credit program that we're presenting today, it has been such a tremendous honor and pleasure to get to work with the good Senator from Santa Monica as well as the good Senator from West Hollywood on this legislation.

The reality is that for Southern California, there are few industries that are more defining than our TV and film industry. I think many people travel from all across the world to come and to visit Hollywood.

And we know that the TV and film industry has not just provided good union jobs for our workforce, but it has also contributed to so many small businesses all across Los Angeles and beyond.

Because the reality is that so many of these TV shows, so many of these movies are being filmed all across California, and that helps the entire state. You know, I got to learn very quickly just what a significant industry that this was for my district after we had the Eaton fires happen in Altadena.

We have a huge creative community, and so, so many of those individuals who lost their homes also were working in the TV and film industry and hadn't worked for months, in some cases years. They were already living off of their savings.

And in navigating their recovery process, they're also navigating economic stress because they have faced financial hardship for so long. I had an opportunity to visit a couple of sets and talk with workers on set. In one case, on the set of fallout over 10 of the staff, there were actually fraud from Altadena.

One woman in particular, Dilerna, who was working as a costume designer, you know, shared with me that she not only lost her home, but her mother also lost her home.

And knowing that we were working on this up in the Legislature so that she could continue to have an opportunity to go back to work meant something to her.

It was exciting to her because her having an opportunity to continue working despite having all of the stress back home and losing so much was a bright spot in her life. And so I want to highlight this as an important component of not just economic recovery, but of fire recovery for so many in my community.

I know there's many in the Palisades that work in this industry as well. And just urgent I vote and so proud to have been a part of this and to see this get done. Thank you.

Thank you. I wanted to rise as the Business, Professions and Economic Development Chair and talk about the importance of investment. In a down economy, it's critically important that we invest in workers, but in a down economy, it's particularly important for those investments to pay off.

We need to spend our money wisely so that it multiplies, so that we can continue to be the great State of California with our robust economy, known for this particular industry. I want to thank the Senator from Santa Monica. He rises today on the floor to present this Bill.

But this has been a dogged effort and he has been tenacious and strong, and today it is broadly supported. But that has not always been the case, and he carried this up a. Heavy hill and we are all the better for it. I urge an aye vote

Thank you, Madam President. I rise in support of this measure. Briefly, I'd just say, I think for. Every young person growing up, not just. In California, but around this country and. Maybe even around the world, this is. A beacon of some hope today.

If you're that student in class who maybe doesn't like taking the SATs or has a learning disability like my dad did and couldn't read and was dyslexic. And trying to get through school and. Didn'T really think There was a place in this economy for him. Couldn't figure out how to job as.

A delivery guy for a sandwich shop. And got in a car accident on the first day and messed up flower deliveries and dropped out of high school. And yet talent was sitting there all along, right beneath the surface.

And so many students and so many young people have talent that isn't formally recognized in our education system, but it lives in creativity. The ability to write a song, the ability to act, the ability to do carpentry and build a set, the ability to do makeup and sound stages.

These are the things that live within young people growing up today. So now they should have a little. Hopefully, thanks to this package. So thank you to the Senator from Santa Monica.

Thank you, Madam President. And I too rise in strong support of AB 1138. And I want to thank my good colleague for all of his work pulling the various threads of concern together into a Bill that, you know, is really representing what is possible in this moment to address the needs of an industry that is modernizing in the midst of restructuring, that is needing to build pathways into communities across this state, into quality careers, that is also fighting tremendous competition around the globe to take what has been California's homegrown film and television industry.

I know that AB 1138 makes important progress toward ensuring California's investment in the film industry delivers real access and opportunity for communities that make production possible. Diversity in hiring is not a goal. I mean, this is California. We are a people of color majority. It's essential.

And I'm proud that this Bill takes meaningful steps to strengthen how we define, how we track how we meet diversity goals in film production.

I'm especially proud to see the zip codes level reporting will be required for all workers so we can better understand whether jobs are reaching workers in neighborhoods where filming actually takes place, but where pathways have fallen short. I'm encouraged to see veteran status added to the diversity goals.

Our public investment should be an open door for those who have served and for all workers who have been historically left out of so many of our industries. This Bill strengthens training and career pathways, particularly through nonprofit partnerships.

And that's how we grow the next generation of the behind the scenes, above the line, below the line, and make sure that the industry future looks a lot brighter and a lot more like California. Equity on screen starts with equity behind the scenes. And AB 1138 makes us a film industry that truly reflects the people of California.

I look forward to continuing to advance these goals, lifting up local communities to make production possible and to create real pathways in the industries. And this is a step toward grounded fairness and inclusion that we are very, very happy to support today. And I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

See no other mics up. Senator Allen, you may close.

Well, thank you. Thank you colleagues. Thank you to my colleague from South Los Angeles for all your work on the items that you just mentioned, making sure that this is something that's going to positively impact all sorts of Californians. I want to thank my colleague from, from Sacramento for raising concerns.

I will say, of course we know that there's always dueling reports and the Economic Development Corporation talked extensively about how these kinds of credits have a proven increase in production and wages and tax revenue.

The good news is we have a tax credit from before that has been, that has shown to be a net benefit to, to state revenues. And we're of course building on this here. But ultimately this is about permanency. It's about trying to defeat the transients that you worried about.

Just yesterday we were in Madam President's district down in Burbank at a beautiful new sound stage that's under construction. Multimillion dollar project that is a, a symbol of faith and confidence in the future of this industry. As they build out infrastructure down there.

It's a sign by the private sector that they see that we're stepping up and we're going to fight for this industry and fight for these jobs. This is also about all of the ripple impacts that our Senator from the San Fernando Valley talked about.

The fact that young person coming up through the school system who maybe doesn't connect to the traditional curriculum in quite the same way can find real vibrant careers in the arts. After the signing ceremony yesterday, we went to a beautiful animation studio in Madam President's district that was just covered in creativity and artistic development.

The walls were covered in art. These are animators. And we're finally able to put animation into this credit for the first time. And it was just so fantastic to see such a diverse workforce, people who come from all over the country to try their hand at pursuing their own dreams in the arts.

And this provides a meaningful and tangible way for people to do that right here in California.

We know that organizations like the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra that so benefits from all of the musical talent of folks who come to score in California in the LA area, but who then bring their talents to, to classical music productions, to teaching, et cetera. We also know that this Bill emphasizes outside of Los Angeles production.

And I talked about this yesterday. I mean, the fact that we've had such beautiful movies made right here in Sacramento recently, some really fun ones, and we look to have so much more.

There's a special uplift for production that's done outside of the Los Angeles area, and I really look forward to seeing those productions take place in your districts all over the state, as our studios are able to take advantage of this credit and do so in a way that will also take advantage of the incredible geographic and cultural diversity of the state up and down this state.

And we're going to be working hard on the film Commission to ensure that that happens. So, Members, I want to thank you. Of course, we are all celebrating here today, but as was mentioned by the Senator from Sacramento, we know how much. How much work these bills take.

I do want to send a special thank you to my friend and colleague and my state Assembly Member, Rick Chavez Zbur, who worked so hard on getting this landed as well.

This was a multifactorial negotiation involving labor unions and studios, involving the outside the zone production folks, folks from music, folks from independent productions, and of course, making sure that we crafted this in a way that will create new pipelines for folks coming from all different backgrounds so that this industry truly reflects the diversity of our rich and vibrant state.

That's what this is about. It's about retaining our heritage, but also growing and building upon this creative economy that has been at the heart of California's dream for so many years. Colleagues, I ask you to join me in supporting AB 1138.

Thank you, Senator. Colleagues, this has an urgency clause. Requires 27 votes. Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

On the urgency. Ayes, 32, noes 2. The measure passes. Colleagues, we're going to take a quick pause.

Moving on to privileges of the floor. We have some special guests with us today. Colleagues, if we give a warm welcome to Senator Valadarez's family. Her husband Shane and her daughter Charlotte are joining us. And they were great softball players yesterday at practice. Additionally, colleagues, because she is loving the love, please welcome. Please. Let's say happy birthday.

Belated birthday to Senator Weber Pierson. And the spouse of the year is in the gallery. Well, was Andrew. Messages from the Governor will be deemed read. Messages from the Assembly will be deemed read. Reports of committees will be deemed read. Moving on to motions, resolutions and notices. And any Member wish to be recognized under this Senator Richardson.

Thank you. Madam Pro Tem. I rise to request that file item 154, which is AB627 by Assemblymember Stefani, be pulled from the consent calendar at the request of the author.

The desk is noted, Senator Rubio.

Thank you, Madam President. At the request of the author, I would like to Request file item 155, AB 663, by McKinnor, removed from the consent file for the purpose of amendments.

Thank you. At the request of the author, please remove final item 153, AB583 by Assemblymember Pellerin from the consent calendar for the purpose of amendments.

Thus, as noted, see no other Members wish to be recognized. Moving into consideration of the daily file, we have items. Colleagues, a little loud. A little loud. Colleagues, we have items 1 through 47 on second reading files. Secretary, please read

[Second Reading]

Second reading will be deemed read. Moving on to Senate third reading, we have one item. That's item 78. Secretary, please read

Senate Joint Resolution 9. By Senator Durazzo relative to immigration rates.

Thank you, Madam President. And good morning, colleagues. Today I rise to present SJR9 and I will be brief. Today we will talk to one another. We will express our thoughts. And that is not meaningless. Remembering people who are too often invisible or forgotten is important, and we should do it more often.

I was bothered that at neither the Republican or Democratic conventions last summer, days and days of speeches, and no mention was made of the immigrants who cleaned the convention hall toilets or cooked the food or made the hotel beds. Their lack of notice spoke loudly about our lack of mindfulness.

At the very least, and it is the least, the resolution before US will make us more mindful of the immigrants who will build the housing that we debated on Monday and harvested the food we will eat today. On Wednesday, June 11, ICE agents carried out a terrifying raid on a U.S. citizen right in my district, Boyle Heights.

Without showing any warrant or identification, these agents rammed the car between two unmarked vehicles on Whittier Boulevard. They then proceeded to point their guns, dispense tear gas, and forcibly dragged him from his car, all while his partner and two children were in the back seat.

The book of Leviticus says, when a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The Buddha says, whoever goes to another's house and is fed, but does not feed them when they come to his house, consider him an outcast. Which act in Islam is the best?

The prophet responded, to give food and to greet everyone with peace, whether you know them or you do not. Why did all of the holy books need to include these teachings? Because human history is the story of migration. The story of strangers looking for something better or escaping something worse. This nation is the story of migration.

People from Ireland and the Ukraine, El Salvador, China and Mexico. And yet the tendency of humans has always been to reject or resist or otherize the wandering strangers, just like America is doing today. On behalf of all people, I urge you to support SJR9.

Bear with me, colleagues. I'm trying to capture everyone's mic up. We're going to start with our Majority Leader, Senator Gonzalez.

Thank you, Madam President, and Members. And I rise today as chair of the Latino Caucus in strong support of SJR9. Over the past few weeks in Southeast Los Angeles, where I represent a predominantly Latino community, masked men have come through our community with AR15s hanging out on the side of their trucks.

In fact, in one place, I will continue to say this time and time again, in one area of the City of Maywood, they threw arbitrarily flashbangs into a playground where predominantly Latino children play. This is immoral. Oftentimes they are not bothering to ask for identification. They are crashing into cars and terrorizing our communities.

It is said that over 56,000 people have been detained so far, most of which are US Citizens, some of which are children, and most of them are Latino. And like I said before, we have been here before, we are resilient. Back in the 30s, we had President Hoover who decided to Deport US citizens, many of Mexican descent.

In the 1950s, President Eisenhower decided to use the same tactic and call it Operation Wetback because we weren't demoralized enough. And continued to utilize this they're taking your jobs away tactic and rhetoric.

And we even had Governor Pete Wilson, Governor of the good State of California, trying to take away education from undocumented and immigrant children, because, again, we would not be demoralized enough. We had to keep going. But this Trump Administration is not about public safety. It's not going after criminals.

In fact, many of the folks that are detained, over 60% of them do not have any criminal background. They're grabbing anyone in plain sight because of the color of their skin. Car wash attendants, landscapers, even fourth graders and their grandparents and parents.

They have detained people who are here legally, again, without asking for identification back in Southeast LA and in Long Beach. And US Citizens now, like my own mother, who is a naturalized citizen, is afraid of what might happen to them because her skin might be a little bit darker.

These immigration enforcement teams are acting with impunity and traumatizing our communities. I can't say it enough, and not one of us can defend this behavior. I don't care who you voted for and what your party affiliation is, you cannot defend this behavior.

And the Trump Administration, as we've known it's, defied our courts, deported American citizens, kidnapped people off the street, and terrorized families at workplaces, parks, etc. And this has gone on in Los Angeles now for 29 days, 29 days in our communities. We need to take urgent action.

And I applaud my colleague from Los Angeles and the co authors for authoring SJR9, which makes it clear. We denounce these mass immigration raids targeting Californians, families, children, and we denounce the engagement of the military and the National Guard in our cities.

These are the National Guard, men and women that should be working on real public safety issues and should be working on wildfire risks. But instead, they're terrorizing, asked and pushed to terrorize our communities.

So I plead with my colleagues, especially those on the other side of the aisle, to ask for decency back in this Administration, humanize the people that are being terrorized right now, and put respect back and dignity back to what seems like a horror story for so many of our communities. I respectfully urge an aye vote on SJR9.

Senator Strickland, you're recognized.

Madam Chair, I believe I have amendments at the desk.

You do. Secretary, please read the amendments.

Amendments by Senator Strickland. Set one.

Senator Strickland, back to you.

Thank you, Madam President. Members, I rise to offer these amendments to SJR9. These amendments will substitute the current language of SJR9 with the language to support the bipartisan House Resolution 516 authored by Representative Young Kim and supported by bipartisan coalition including Democrat Representatives Jim Costa of Fresno and Adam Gray of Merced.

HR 516 relates to the violent and dangerous riots in the City of Los Angeles in June of 2025. This resolution always expresses support and concerns for the many hard working men and women of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to help restore safety to the streets of Los Angeles.

It also expresses concern and support for the hard working men and women in the National Guard and the United States Marine Corps who also help restore calm and safety to the streets of Los Angeles.

The actions of our law enforcement, the men and women in the military, have been crucial in preventing further violence and protecting law abiding citizens from harm. The language in these amendments also urge our US Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff to support HR516 in a similar fashion.

Members is well documented that Delhi Police, LA Police and Sheriff's Department said they were overwhelmed and I believe by President Trump calling the National Guard it saved people's lives.

I grew up in a time and I grew up in the Los Angeles area where we had the riots in 1992 and this is about to spiral out of control. I believe by calling it a National Guard we saved lives. I thank the President for moving forward.

It's not uncommon for a President, by the way, to bring in the National Guard at the objection of the Governor. In fact, that happened with Eisenhower back in Little Rock where the Governor of Little Rock, Arkansas objected. It also happened when John F. Kennedy called in the National Guard with Governor George Wallace in Alabama.

So it's not uncommon for a President of the United States historically to call a National Guard at the objections of the Governor of that state. So Members, let's support this bipartisan resolution and I urge your aye vote on this. Again, this is a bipartisan resolution that urge your aye vote on my amendments to SJR9.

Senator Gonzalez, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam President. And Members, again, Trump's unconstitutional deployment of our state's National Guard is taking away the work, the real work that they're supposed to do, depriving our state's critical firefighting efforts and hampers the enforcement work that needs to be done. And so I refute these amendments.

I may close on the amendments. It was actually ruled that it was constitutional. In fact, I just pointed out historically, again, President Eisenhower called in the National Guard the objections of the Governor of Arkansas back in 19, I believe, 57.

And then John F. Kennedy, Democratic President, called in the National Guard in Alabama against the objection of the Governor of Alabama at the time, George Wallace. It is historical precedence. It's not unconstitutional. In fact, it's been ruled constitutional.

And again, at the end of the day, if Mayor Bass or Governor Newsom won't thank the President, I will thank the President for bringing in the National Guard, because that could have spiraled out of control. And by calling the National Guard, it kept people safer. And so, therefore, again, I urge these support of these bipartisan amendments.

Senator Gonzalez, taking it back to you. Senator Gonzalez is asking for a no vote on the amendment. An aye vote on laying the amendments. Senator Strickland's asking for an aye vote. Colleagues, let me do this again.

Senator Gonzalez is asking for an aye vote to lay the motion for a motion to lay the amendments on the desk. Senator Strickland is asking for a no vote. Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Ayes 28, Nos. 9. The motion carries. The amendments are laid on the table now. I would like to recognize Senator Valadares.

Thank you, Madam President. I do have amendments two at the desk on SJR nine.

amendments by Senator Valaderas. Set two.

Thank you, Madam President and colleagues, I rise today to Present amendments to Senate Joint Resolution 9. As it stands, SJR 9 paints only part of the picture. These amendments provide critical context. Context that is necessary if we're going to have an honest conversation about what's actually happening in our communities.

We can't condemn immigration enforcement actions without. Without first addressing the flawed policies that got us here. For decades, both parties, Republicans and Democrats in Washington, have kicked the can down the road on immigration reform. And here in California, state policies have made matters worse. During the Biden Administration, over 10 million individuals have entered our country illegally.

And let's be real, states are overwhelmed, especially ours. And what has been California's response? SB54, or so called sanctuary laws, which prohibit law enforcement from coordinating with federal immigration authorities, even even in cases of known violent offenders. Before SB54, Ayes could detain individuals in jails quietly, securely, without disruption.

And now they're forced to conduct raids in our communities, in neighborhoods, at workplaces, in public spaces. This puts everyone at risk. These amendments just don't explain why the recent enforcement raids are happening. They call out the policies that made them the only option we need to repeal SB 54.

I was encouraged to actually see US Attorney General take legal action against Los Angeles for violating federal immigration law. That is leadership, and it's time for this body to follow suit. These amendments don't call for mass deportation. They call for restoration of common sense that violent criminals should be removed and not shielded.

Until California stops obstructing federal law, these disruptive, dangerous enforcement actions will continue. Let's be honest about that. And I respectfully ask for an aye vote on these amendments.

Thank you, Madam President. It is really not right to misinform the public of what is going on here. Once again, might I add, we are terrorizing communities. The Trump Administration is terrorizing communities. And I have folks back home that, regardless of their party affiliation, realize that this is terror. Federally sanctioned terror. I cannot say it enough.

This is a peaceful protest are actually the response. Peaceful protests. I'm a born and raised Los Angeles, Angeleno. These are peaceful protests happening right now. Let us. Let us not misinform what is happening now. And getting 700 Marines out to deploy out to Southeast Los Angeles and Boyle Heights in South Los Angeles is not okay.

That is not what the Marine Corps signed up for. To deploy 4,000 National Guard when they should be working on the streets, to go against fentanyl and to ensure that we're working on.

Senator Validaris, you're recognized to the motion.

Get the mic up. Can you please speak. Have the speaker speak to the amendments.

The desk has noted. Point well taken. Majority Leader, Please speak to the merits of the amendments. Could we get our mics working, please?

Okay, I will speak to the amendments, but again, this is really. This resolution is about, again, decency and empathy for our neighbors and community Members who are being terrorized by this Trump Administration. And with an overwhelming majority of those.

You're recognized. Your point is, once again, well taken. Thank you, Senator Gonzalez. Please stick to the amendments.

And I will add that overwhelmingly, the folks that have been detained, many of which are US Citizens, are. Which is unconstitutional to do or have legal, permanent residency. Many of them do not have. That's not my amendments. Over 60% of them.

Thank you. You know, this is frustrating because people in our communities are hurting, and people want us, this body, to have honest conversations about what is going on. It hurts me to see people frustrated and upset and in fear, but lying about why we're here does nothing to fix it.

These amendments are critical, critical component of why we are here and why we need to stand up. We had a bipartisan group yesterday in the Problem Solvers Caucus. Republicans and Democrats come together because we are sick of the partisanship, the immigrant community, the undocumented immigrant community. We're sick of what's going on.

We need to put partisanship aside and get it done. And when we don't have honest conversations, we. More people will get hurt. This policy context.

Senator Gonzalez, you're recognized,

Needs to speak to the amendments as well.

That point is also well taken, Senator.

Senator, I was just finishing that. These amendments tell the honest story and give us directive on what we should be doing on real solutions. I respectfully asked for an aye vote.

Senator Gonzalez is asking an aye vote to lay amendments on the table. Senator Valadez is asking for a no vote. Secretary, please call the roll.

[Roll Call]

Ayes. 28 no's no. The motion carries. The amendments are laid on the table. Going back to the item at hand, I'm going to start with or go back to Senator Padilla for further discussion.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair, President and colleagues. I rise in support. I just have to say due respect to my esteemed colleagues. It's easy to articulate the idea that we should have honest and complete picture and honest conversations.

This has not been an honest conversation since the President descended his gilded escalator in 2015 to announce his candidacy for President.

When he announced falsely that the biggest threat facing America was the immigration situation alone, that at that moment in time there were more unlawful entries than there were people leaving the United States, that fact wasn't discussed much.

The mischaracterization of the immigration undocumented phenomenon not as a civil violation of our immigration policies, but as a criminal offense, almost felonious in every case. The false assertion that the majority of people immigrating to the United States, regardless of status, were of evil intent, were terrorists, rapists and criminals, that also was not a false statement.

But, you know, modern history should teach us something. And we should be reminded of something called colleagues. Tyrannical impulses live on the fuel of demagoguery. You set out a premise, you repeat a theme. You exploit cultural sensitivities, you exploit economic insecurity and fear.

You even exploit racism to create a baseline for conversation that in every part seems to reinforce a gut feeling, a sensibility in the people, a belief that people who are different, speak different languages, come from different places, are somehow a threat to the American ideal, that they are the enemy.

It's great politics when people are under pressure, when people are struggling to make ends meet. But it isn't an honest conversation and it isn't a complete picture. We've seen this movie before. If we study history, we are reminded.

The Irish potato famine, the riots in the streets on the Eastern seaboard In the early 20th century, even the late 19th century, the treatment of Asian Americans here in our own great state, and the modern phenomenon, the modern proclivity to look to Central America and Mexico as the source of all of our problems, and therefore dealing with immigration, at least in our rhetoric, is the way to go politically.

And from a policy standpoint, it is not what we are witnessing today in the streets of San Diego, county, along the border in my district. What we are witnessing today in Los Angeles and throughout this strait, federal authorities executing enforcement law covering their names and faces, indistinguishable from anyone on the street.

Grabbing people off the street, putting them into unmarked cars, is something I never thought I would see in my lifetime. It is something I never thought we would see in America. It is something I never will accept as the American way. The conduct that we are seeing today is not the American way.

It is based on a false premise. It is based on demagoguery. It is based, much like perhaps Germany in the late 1920s and through the mid and late 1930s, in its economic distress, the need to find boogeymen and women to focus anger and distrust upon as the reason for all the problems in the nation.

And it made room for one of the most detestable and grotesque events in human history. Some similarities here, I might say, Madam President and colleagues, that we can't ignore as we debate this question.

The invocation, it seems, along with that false narrative, along with the false information, along with that demagoguery, evoking the images and symbols of our patriotism, sometimes even insinuating the colors of our flag, the flag itself, our cultural ideas about what patriotism are and is, are somehow partisan symbols, along with the great irony, at the very same time invoking and insinuating that a complete failure to protect and defend and uphold the very constitution and principles of equality and decency that those symbols represent.

As we have this conversation, we seem to be conveniently forgetting that we seem to be conveniently forgetting the fifth and fourteenth Amendments guarantees of due process, the heart of what makes our society different from so many others.

Not to mention that great inscription on the bronze plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty, which we're all very familiar. This is not the American way. This is not the actions of a government grounded and steeped in respecting the rule of law or our traditions or our culture.

This is flirting with tyranny and conveniently ignoring the principles we have all taken an oath to protect. It's grotesque, it's wrong, it's un American, and it is tearing this country apart. With all due respect to some of my colleagues in this chamber, that is not leadership. Madam President and colleagues, I strongly ask for an aye vote,

Senators, so we know the order. Since we have a lot of mics up, we're going to be hearing next from Senators Umberg, Seyarto and Cervantes.

Senator Umberg, thank you, Madam President and colleagues. It is appropriate that we hark back to a time when the National Guard was invoked and used and used to enforce civil rights. It is appropriate that we hark back to a time when federal troops were used for that same purpose.

It's appropriate we hark back to the time when Dr. Martin Luther King says, the arc of the moral universe is long but bends towards justice. But it doesn't look like justice now for some of us. It doesn't look like justice for some of us then. I actually have lived experience.

I grew up for the first 10 years of my life within eyesight of Kentucky. I remember drinking fountains that said whites Only. I remember that time. I remember the images of Bull Connor.

You may not know that name, but that name was emblazoned at the time in his dogs, in his fire hoses, and young children, young African American girls who weren't permitted to go to school, and young girls being blown up in their homes and their churches.

I remember that time and I remember the presidents, as was indicated, using the National Guard to invoke civil rights. And those images today. Here's the image today. I think those images galvanized the country. And the image today that's in my mind is the image of Narciso Barranco. Do you know that name?

You should know that name because he's a patriot. He's a patriot in Santa Ana. He's a patriot because he raised three sons to be Marines, two active duty, one a veteran now. And Narciso Branco was simply cutting grass, no criminal record, no criminal accusation, cutting grass in Santa Ana.

And four masked men, at least four, because that's what the video shows. Attacked him, tackled him and beat him and beat him because I believe because of the color of his skin and because of his occupation. That's the image today. And to say somehow that the National Guard is there to protect me is obscene.

It's obscene because the chief of police in Santa Ana said to the U.S. attorney, do not send the National Guard, because if you send a National Guard, it will inflame the situation. It will not. It will not quell the concerns. And, zero, by the way, on a second phone call after saying, please, this is Chief Robert Rodriguez.

Please don't send the National Guard. Please take your enforcement officials and have them inside the building that's right now surrounded by the National Guard, because it's basically inflaming and taunting the crowd. And the U.S. attorney said, no, we will not retreat. In other words, we will continue to create a situation which causes harm.

And the purpose of that harm is simply to demonstrate that somehow, somehow we, as was said by the secretary of Secretary Noem, somehow to liberate California from our elected leaders.

We. It's not just that we don't need that assistance, not just that we don't want that assistance. We can't stand that assistance because we care. And you do, too. You care about our citizens and simply sending the National Guard. By the way, let me speak to the National Guard for a second.

These are our young men and women. These are people that have joined our National Guard. These are Californians who are now being activated, many of them, to assist in rounding up their parents, literally their parents and their neighbors. Imagine that cognitive dissonance. And of course, we weren't ready for them. They had no place to sleep.

They weren't ready to have the National Guard activated at the time. So in addition to the abuse of our neighbors, there's also abuse of our sons and daughters who are Members of the National Guard. And so for all these reasons, for all these reasons, we should support SJR9. And I urge an aye vote

Thank you, Madam President. Colleagues, today I rise to give my thoughts on SJR9. SJR9 does little to address the concerns with federal immigration policy, nor does it mention the state's culpability in contributing to the current enforcement environment.

By doing everything we could to ensure that California would not abide by U.S. immigration laws, we left the door open for the type of actions the Federal Government that you are now seeing by the Federal Government that you are now seeing.

By trying to hide and protect citizens of other countries who came to the US Illegally but then decided to participate in criminal behavior, we have exposed other undocumented immigrants to being caught up in the ensuing efforts to apprehend and Deport those who have chosen to perpetrate crimes in our country.

This Legislature had the opportunity to address that aspect of the immigration problem, but the Bill never made it out of Committee. Why? Because it would require California to actually cooperate with the federal efforts to arrest and detain those whose criminal behavior had caught up with them.

It could have been done wherever they were being released, the courthouse, the detention facility, etc. But no, we apparently prefer that Ayes be forced to track them down in neighborhoods they went back to. And then we complain about raids in various locations where the intended deportees are hiding it.

We should be working with the Federal Government to ensure that the broken parts of our immigration policies can be addressed in a manner that takes into account issues including workforce needs as well as public safety. We also have to recognize the logistics issues surrounding mass uncontrolled immigration and the ensuing adverse impacts on education, public safety and health.

Care, and that includes for the immigrants themselves. I am pretty sure that most people value the contributions of our immigrant communities. They understand the important cultural role they play as well as the role they play in our workforce.

But that doesn't equate to relying on mass illegal immigration and non enforcement or immigration laws and fighting against the Federal Government in order for us to enjoy those benefits. There are a myriad of other issues related to immigration that we need to talk about and address.

However, we are not going to make any meaningful progress if addressing any of this if California is not going to work with the Federal Government to address them. Resolutions like SJR9 do not change laws or public safety practices.

If the Legislature is serious about addressing immigration enforcement, it requires us to work with the Federal Government to craft legislation that will create a robust, helpful, legal and safe immigration process. Symbolic measures offered up to fan the flames of an already volatile situation is not a step in that direction.

Now is the time to lower, not raise the political temperature so that we can work with the Federal Government in creating immigration reform that benefits our citizens and allows citizens from other countries to come here legally and work towards their dream of being citizens of the United States. For these reasons, I will not be supporting this resolution today.

Thank you, Madam President and Members. Today I rise in support of Senate Joint Resolution 9, which affirms our unwavering commitment to safeguarding the rights, dignity and safety of all Californians, regardless of their immigration status. I stand in solidarity with our undocumented neighbors. I stand with the families living in fear.

I stand with every Californian whose dignity and rights are under threat. President Trump claims that mass deportations are about removing criminals. But the truth unfolding across California tells a different story. This is not about public safety. It is about political cruelty. We are witnessing a regime of fear that targets our undocumented neighbors indiscriminately.

Hard working people who are raising families, working jobs and contributing every day in our communities. In my district, day laborers have been rounded up outside of Home Depots. In Los Angeles. Nannies have been pulled from parks, leaving children behind. In Culver City, a beloved ballet vendor was arrested outside a church. No crime, just existence.

And for undocumented LGBTQ Californians, many of whom come here fleeing persecution, the risks are even greater. There are an estimated 23,000 undocumented LGBTQ individuals in LA County alone. These are people who come to the US in search of refuge. Instead, they now face detention, disappearance and terror. Let me be clear. These are not criminals. These are Californians.

These are human beings. Federal agents are conducting militarized raids, often in plain clothes, without identification. We've seen American citizens detained, held, interrogated, even after showing a real ID, and many other American citizens abducted, taken to detention centers despite their citizenship. This is racial profiling. This is unconstitutional. This is wrong.

And to those that claim to care about constitutional rights, I ask, where is your outrage? We must confront what this moment represents. These tactics, mass roundups, dehumanizing rhetoric, targeting of vulnerable communities are pulled straight from the authoritarian playbook. My own family fought tyranny.

My grandfather and great uncle, uncles served in World War II, including landing on the Beaches of Normandy on D Day to begin the liberation of north and East Europe, north and West Europe, from Nazi occupation. They fought against fascism.

Their sacrifices and that of so many of our veterans was not so that this nation could slide back into it. Make no mistake, this is a test of our values. This is a test of our courage. We must not remain silent as families are torn apart.

We cannot ignore the raids that leave children without parents or the fear that keeps families from seeking health care, going to school or seeking medical assistance. This is not just a legal issue. This is a moral one.

Because when agents of the government begin to tear families apart without cause or due process process, we're not simply enforcing immigration policy. We are abandoning the values that defined our nation.

When children are left crying in parks, when citizens are unlawfully detained because of the color of their skin or because of the way that they speak, it is not the work of a lawful democracy. It is the machinery of dehumanization. And that is a moral crisis.

We are elected to uphold the Constitution, but also to uphold the dignity of every single person that we serve. That means protecting the vulnerable, not targeting them. It means seeing the humanity in every person, not reducing them to a number in a quota.

Let's remember many of our own families came to this country seeking the very same things, safety, dignity and opportunity. That dream doesn't die when it's someone else's turn. So, yes, this is a policy issue. Yes, this is a constitutional issue. And above all else, it is a test of our moral compass.

Do we believe that all people deserve treatment and dignity? Or don't we? Do we believe in due process and equal protection? Or don't we? Do we believe that government should work to protect people, not terrorize its people? Because how we answer those questions will define what kind of country we become tomorrow. I strongly ask for your aye vote on SJR9.

Thank you, Senator. Our next three speakers are gonna be Senators Rubio, Arreguin and Wiener. Senator Rubio.

Thank you, Madam President. Ladies and gentlemen of the Senate, I stand in strong support for SJR9. The reason I wanted to stand and speak on this issue because no one on this floor knows this issue more personally, more deeply than I do. We often think of immigration as someone else's problem. Someone else's child, someone else's kid.

But I have to share with you. I was just five years old when immigration came from my family. My father, my brothers and sisters. Today I wanted to invite my colleagues, regardless of party affiliation, to think of what it would mean to your family.

I don't want you to think of me as an other person, but I want you to think of what it would mean to you. I want you to envision your children, your grandchild, what it would do to them for you to come home and not have your family there.

What it would do to not be able to see them. Wonder if your children are being taken care of. Wonder if they're being fed, if they're being comforted. We don't seem to understand that some mothers are not coming home and babies are depending on these mothers to feed these children.

We're not understanding that children are coming home from school, going home to an empty house and not having mom and dad there to protect them. So many children are getting lost in the system. And I keep hearing this statement over and over again, why don't they do it right? Why don't they become legal citizens the right way?

Well, I have to remind everyone on this floor that people are doing it the right way. They're seeking asylum. They're going through the process. They're doing the right thing. They're getting appointments in court, and then they're coming out to be picked up. So what right way are you talking about?

If you're going to court for an appointment that the government gave you and you're doing it the right way just to be picked up outside. What right way, I ask you? There is no right way when due process is not being respected.

And so I also want to share with you that my father did come here undocumented, but he was invited by the government. The government invited him, my grandfather and thousands and thousands of immigrants when the United States needed the workforce because we were fighting a war.

So they used my father to fill in the gap, to do the work, to build bridges. He built roads, he picked the crops to ensure that our men and women here in the United States could fight a war and not have to worry about what was happening back home.

But even then, when he was no longer needed, they came for him. And what that meant is they came for me. Five years old. I want you to think about that. I never got to see my teachers again. I never got to see my friends. I never got to see my neighbors. And that's not something that disappears.

It is something that you carry every single day. So when I think of what's happening in this moment, it is very traumatic for me. A lot of you have not been seeing me out there speaking about it, because even I, a US Citizen, a Senator on this floor, I am afraid of getting deported.

I want you to think about that. Senator on this floor has to walk around with her passport because I am afraid of being deported. Was that possible in years past? Probably not. But do I think it could be possible today? Absolutely.

And so if I'm afraid, I want us to think about the families that are being cornered, that are being harassed just because they look Mexican, according to the government. And I have to go back to that moment when we had to face immigration agents.

My father is a very proud man, but when I saw his face, and I still remember five years old, the defeat in his face. His parents are supposed to protect children. That is their job. In fact, I would argue that's the biggest job of a parent. That's to protect your child from harm.

And in that moment, he couldn't protect us. In that moment, he didn't know what to do. And that's very difficult not to remember. That feeling that I felt that day, it is, again, a trauma that scars you for life. Nonetheless, my experience is nothing compared to what is happening to our children and our families today.

They're being dragged out of cars, they're being dragged out of their homes with men in full tactical gear with machine guns drawn. Huntington Park. There was a family, a woman who had her child next to the window and another little one, about eight or nine men in tactical gear with guns, threw explosives.

They blew the doorway, the window, almost hurting that baby. And these are US Citizens. When we think of public safety, and I know right now it was mentioned that we should support them. I don't think anyone on this floor, but could argue how strongly I have fought for the men and women in blue.

They cannot argue how strongly I fought for military families as I come from a military family myself. But when we see five men on top of a young man at Walmart because he was speaking out, a US Citizen, not only did they attack him, but they took him Away.

A US Citizen, another young lady who went to work, was picked up, literally physically lifted up in the air. While she was kicking and screaming, a US Citizen disappeared for two to three days. That is not justice. That is not justice. Her mother kept asking, where is my daughter?

And no one could tell her they spent two days trying to figure out where she was kept. Again, we're not talking about immigration here. We're talking about just the abuse of due process, civil rights. If someone that's a US Citizen is picked up kicking and screaming, what chance do poor immigrant families have?

So again, I just want to remind us that there's ways of having lawful and respectful immigration policies without destroying entire families, without destroying the security that our communities need and deserve. Our policies must protect, not punish, those who are most vulnerable, those who are just trying to work, those that are trying to educate their children.

Once again, due process is lost. We talk about laws and order, but yet people that are going into our communities are not following the laws. And most that are being picked up are being assaulted.

And I want to thank the Senator from who shared that a man who was working outside of IHOP just cutting the grass, was thrown in the ground, hit in the head over and over again. And this man has three men who served in the military.

If a man who has three children that he's given to this country cannot find safety in going to work and cutting the grass and earning an honest living, what chance do any of us have? This is very difficult for me because I know that I've shared very minimally the impact to our family.

And it's not easy to sit here and be vulnerable and expose how traumatic this has been for me. But let's not think of immigrants as others. Let's think of them as our colleagues, as our neighbors, as our friends, and as an educator, I can share with you in 2016, 2017, 18 the fear in our students eyes.

They saw the family separation. They saw what was happening to their neighbors, and they were traumatized by that. They were constantly asking that they were going to come for their families. And I don't know what to say. As a teacher, all you can do is comfort your students and hope that they're going to be okay.

And as a victim's advocate, as a children's advocate, those victims of abuse, I am heartbroken. These immigration raids are bringing another layer of trauma to these poor victims. Trauma on top of trauma. No survivor should ever have to choose between their freedom and being safe. Many victims are not showing up to court to get the Restraining orders.

Many victims are not showing up to be safe. And these safe houses, they're going back to their abusers because they find that getting beat, assaulted is safer than going out into a community where eyes can come in and assault them, Deport them and keep them away from their children. That is not justice.

Again, I will reiterate, we can have lawful, respectful immigration policies, but we don't have to destroy our communities in the process. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Madam President. I rise in strong support of Senate Joint Resolution 9. As a proud co author and as the chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Public Safety, I want to address first the issue of Senate Bill 54.

And it's amazing to me, amazing to me to hear people say that what's happening in Southern California, Mass, people taking people off the streets, violating their constitutional rights, violating due process, inflicting harm, terrorizing communities, that that is the Democrats fault. No, that's the President's fault. But let me talk about SB 54 and what it does remind you.

SB 54 gives local law enforcement discretion to cooperate with immigration authorities by providing the release date information and transferring individuals when Ayes contacts local law enforcement or CDCR, transferring those individuals to immigration authorities for defendants with the following offenses.

Murder and attempted murder, rape, lewd or lascivious acts on children, assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, burglary, robbery, kidnapping. If somebody is convicted of a felony with a prison sentence.

Senator, unfortunately we can't speak on a different Bill. You're gonna have to stick to the SJR9.

So serious or violent felonies, local law enforcement or state Department of Corrections rehabilitation, they can cooperate with ICE. They can transfer those individuals to ICE's custody. And this is germane to the resolution because it's the underpinning of what we're talking about here, which is state law and the Federal Government's enforcement of federal immigration law.

So that is the law of California. There is no restriction on state or local law enforcement to collaborate with ICE in the case of serious or violent felons. And CDCR is not applicable to this law.

And I just want to cite a statistic that 105 detainees who are undocumented who have committed seriously violent felonies are sitting in CDCR's custody right now, and Ayes is not taking custody of them.

So perhaps it would be more beneficial and more productive for Ayes to go and take those people out of our prisons, which is costing $14 million of taxpayer subsidies to incarcerate those seriously violent felons that Ayes should take custody of, not to mention the tens of millions of dollars it's costing local governments and county governments to also detain seriously violent felons who Ayes could take custody of under Senate Bill 54.

But back to the merits of the resolution as well. I also rise today with great sadness at what's happening in our state and our country. Tomorrow. We celebrate the 249th anniversary of the founding of this country. And it was founded under similar circumstances. A tyrannical leader, a campaign of terror and repression against freedom fighters.

But we said that we would break free from the king. And still to this day, no kings in this country. We stand for the freedom and liberty of all people. And look up at the motto here in our Senate chamber which says it's the duty of the Senators to protect the liberty of the people.

That's our oath as Members of this body. That's our duty. But look at what's happening across our state. The militarized raids, the violent arrests of people, racial profiling, violations of constitutional rights and the rule of law. That's a violation of who we are as a country and what our founders fought and died for to establish this country.

So who's been targeted by these immigration rates? Immigrants and people with legal status just because they look brown. We've heard of legal citizens who've been falsely arrested by masked agents. And we don't just put this in context as well. We don't even know if they're legitimate federal agents.

We heard just the other day of somebody who was falsely claiming to be Ayes agent. But. And we know that vigilantes patrol our borders, not just here in California, but across the US Mexico border. So we are enabling vigilantism and lawlessness targeting people racially profound people in this country. That's not advancing immigration enforcement in this country.

That's inflicting harm and that's violating people's constitutional rights in due process. Putting this campaign of terror also in context of what's happening on the other side of this country right now in the chamber of the US House of Representatives. And this is germane to the resolution.

The Republicans in Washington are trying to pass a Bill that would create a $45 million slush Fund to allow for increased immigration enforcement in California, throughout this country. All the while cutting Medicaid, cutting nutrition assistance and other essential services that legal and non legal Californians and Americans rely upon.

This will harm millions of Californians and also crater our state's budget. But let's also talk about the economic impact of these deportations, the loss of critical workforce. It's been estimated, according to a UC Merced study that this could cost the state $23 billion in tax revenue annually. And this will further harm the state's economic prosperity.

A time we're facing a structural deficit in our state. This is not also about public safety. These actions harm public safety. The violent arrests of people who are immigrants and who are legal citizens of this country. The lack of due process, the violations of constitutional rights and the erosion of trust between law enforcement and our local community.

Something we have built years to try to establish. That's why this Legislature passed Senate Bill 54. That's why we've advanced policies that are focused on focusing on what we do as a state, which is pass laws that enforce state policies and let the Federal Government implement federal policy. That's their right as well.

But who's been arrested by these rates? Over 60% of the people who've been arrested have had no prior convictions and 90% have had no violent convictions. This is not about public safety. If it was about public safety, we would focus on those people that are causing the most risk to our communities. That's not what's happening.

These are tax paying, law abiding people who live in the state who are being swooped up in this mass deportation machine. This is about dehumanizing immigrants, tearing families apart, sending kids with cancer on deportation flights, the violent arrest of a father, three. Three Marines, a tax paying citizen. All for political points.

So as we celebrate the 249th anniversary of our Independence, let us recognize that today not all of us in the state are free. Permission to read. I'm wrapping up.

Without objection.

I want to just read a pivotal piece of our Declaration of Independence which is that we hold these truths to be self evident that all are created equal and down by their created with certain inalienable rights such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Let's remember that today.

And I respectfully ask for an aye vote on SJR 9.

Senator Wiener, Senator Wiener. Just give me one minute. We have the great privilege of being able to have these discussions. Senators, let's just make sure in our remarks we're sticking to the merit of the resolution in front of us.

Senator, thank you very much. Madam President, colleagues, I rise today in support of SJR9 as co chair of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus and as the grandson and great grandson of Jewish immigrants who fled to this country from Eastern Europe and Russia to escape the pogroms and to find safety and stability and to make lives for themselves and for their families.

The same exact reason that Jews came to this country in the early 20th century and the same reason that so many immigrants from Latin America and from around the world have come to this country today and for decades leading up to today. Fortunately, my grandparents and great grandparents were able to live their lives.

They were able to stand in their front yards. They were able to go to the bus stop, to the pharmacy, to the grocery store, to work. They were able to bring their kids to school without fear.

That ski mask wearing, unidentified secret police would grab them, place them in unmarked cars and disappear them to gulags in El Salvador or Libya or South Sudan, or to an island in Florida surrounded by alligators, so called Alligator Alcatraz. They didn't have to deal with that.

This country allowed my grandparents and great grandparents to build lives for themselves here. My grandparents and great grandparents didn't have to fear that bounty hunters hired by Ayes would kidnap them and potentially send them back to Eastern Europe, Russia, if they didn't get sent to the gulag.

And had they been sent back, I wouldn't be here today because my family would have been incinerated during the Holocaust. This resolution is vital because our immigrant neighbors are vital to California. They're essential not simply as drivers and creators of our culture and engines of our economy, but because they are our loved ones.

They are our neighbors, our friends, our co workers, our kids, teachers. And our immigrant neighbors are in deep crisis, living in fear.

And I think a lot of people who haven't experienced that fear do not fully understand what that fear means, to live in fear every day that you're going to get grabbed or someone in your family is going to get grabbed. Families being torn apart, it is a disaster. On Sunday, we had the San Francisco Pride Parade.

And later in the day I took the subway to get from the celebration back to my home in the Castro. And on the train I was sitting next to a man, a gay Latino man who I've known for a long time, just in the neighborhood.

And he turned and he said to me, you know, I came here from Mexico when I was 16 and I have lived here for 30 years. And I'm just wondering when I'm going to have to go back to Mexico. And he said that in a completely matter of fact way.

And my heart just sank that that is the message that has been conveyed to tens of millions of people in this country. Citizens, non citizens, everyone. That's what this government has conveyed to people who are absolutely ingrained in this society and have been for a very long time.

These attacks on immigrant communities by the Trump Administration, these efforts to strip our neighbors of their humanity and their basic dignity, are reflective of the worst moments in history. Jews know what it means to be targeted. Jews know what happens inevitably when that targeting begins.

Once our own government begins to dehumanize us, round us up like cattle, separate us from our loved ones, force us out of our homes and into government detention. Jews understand what it means to be denied the rights of other citizens, to be excluded from country after country, to be expelled. And Jews can smell fascism a mile away.

We've lived it for millennia. We know what it means when the secret police come. We know what it means when a single group is singled out for dehumanization. We know what it means when. When a tyrannical government issues edicts stating that you are no longer part of society.

That is what is happening in our country today, and we feel a deep obligation to speak out. When we hear phrases like, quote, poisoning the blood of our nation, our Jewish alarm bells go off, because we know what that means and what that is a precursor to.

We must condemn what is happening in the strongest possible terms, because if we don't, if we allow this terror campaign to continue, it will grow into something even darker than the evil we're experiencing now. We are already seeing them call for denaturalizing citizens.

Anyone who thinks that this is just going to stop where it is now, particularly with the $45 billion that Congress is handing to this President to create a police state like nothing we can even envision sitting here right now, it's not going to stop.

It took a year and a half from when Hitler became chancellor through a democratic process, a year and a half for him to fully dismantle that democracy and turn it into a dictatorship.

And along the way, as that process happened, and then in the years after that, moving towards the final solution, a lot of choices were made by millions and millions of people in society. Choices to resist and fight, or choices to. To just let it happen and turn the other way.

It is the height of arrogance for anyone in this country to think that history cannot repeat itself, to think that we are somehow impervious to what has happened in human society for millennia.

When groups begin to be targeted by the government, Jewish values teach us to welcome the stranger, which is why so many Jewish nonprofits dedicate themselves to helping people who come here as refugees, people from countries across the world. It is a core part of what we Call Tikkun Olam healing the world.

We must send a crystal clear message that we will never accept this as normal. And we must remind this President and his corrupt Administration, as well as every resident of this great nation, that California will fight back, that we love our neighbors and that we are ready to defend them. I ask for an aye vote.

The next three speakers are Senator Smallwood Cuevas, Senator Becker, Senator Choi.

Thank you, Madam President. I rise in strong support of this resolution. I rise on behalf of the California Legislative Black Caucus. And we in the Black Caucus understand all too well the harm caused when law enforcement is weaponized to control, to silence and to intimidate, to hurt, to abuse and to terrorize.

What we're seeing today echoes to some of the darkest chapters in our country's history. And I heard that we are celebrating the 249 years of the Independence of this Country. And I want to remind folks that during that period of our Independence, black people were not free.

And so, as we're celebrating this 249 years, my question is, what have we learned as a country as it relates to what freedom really means? During that independent struggle, black families were torn apart. Mothers from children, husbands from wives. It would take hundreds of years to rebuild those families.

During that period or soon after that period, once freedom was accomplished, we saw black communities like Tulsa and Rosewood burned and destroyed by vigilantes, destroying the economic growth and dreams of black communities. We saw folks hung by Lynch Mobs, covered in hoods, hanging from trees, people afraid to walk their own neighborhoods after dark.

249 years later, here we are talking about the violence in Los Angeles. And I want to say there was no violence in Los Angeles before the occupation force arrived. People were going to work. They were taking their kids to school and preparing for graduations. They were going to their jobs supporting their neighbors.

They were making our economy work. They were contributing what in Los Angeles amounts to $11 billion to our local economy. So as we're looking on this Independence Day and having this conversation, what does it take? What does it take for us to turn our backs on white supremacy and racism?

What does it take for us to stop dehumanizing our own people? What does it take from us turning our military and these militias on our neighbors, abusing them, beating them, jailing them in private detention centers?

What does it take for us to stop this community from being over surveilled, raided, detained not for crimes, but for simply existing in spaces, for simply trying to build an American life, for simply contributing to the Welfare and the power, the strength of our cities, our state and our country. We continue to have to answer these questions.

And I want to lift up the targeting of so many neighbors and friends and families. Union leaders like David Werther, arresting those who just stand in peaceful solidarity. This is not unconstitutional to stand up for your rights. We are defending the Constitution and we're defending this direct attack on our democracy.

These raids continue the dark legacy of separating families. They continue the harm of our children for generations. They continue to undermine communities trust, economic stability and the integrity of our public institutions. They have disrupted entire industries and have created instability for businesses across the state and across this country. And.

And our immigrant communities are nothing more than those who have cared for us. They are not a threat. They are our neighbors. They are our loved ones. They are our leaders. They are our thought partners. They are the fabric that makes our country our state. The California way of life. So strong.

And they deserve to live in dignity and safety and freedom with no exceptions. My constituents in South Los Angeles are deeply afraid. And just last week we had a delegation of black and Jewish faith leaders go and grocery shop for our neighbors who afraid to leave their own homes and have been for weeks.

And when they arrived at this apartment building, Senators, when they arrived at this apartment building, when they went into these homes, they realized that the water had been shut off, the electricity now has been shut off. Why? Because they're not working. And they fear that they will soon be on the streets.

So we are looking at an unconstitutional, a constitutional crisis. But we are also looking at a very severe health, public health crisis that is about to hit us because of this Administration. We condemn, contest and resist.

We are afraid of these masked and unnamed men and women who are coming into our schools and into our places of work and into our courts. But we know and believe in the rule of law. We know and believe in the voices of our communities. We know and believe in the solidarity of Californians.

And we know that America cannot be America if we allow this to continue. So we stand in support, my district, my constituents, in deep and brave support of this resolution. Today, the Black Caucus stands in full solidarity with our immigrant families and our brothers and sisters who represent and come from those communities.

We condemn these unconstitutional raids, the criminalization of protests and the use of military force on our peaceful communities. California will not be silent while our neighbors are hunted on our in our streets are militarized. When we fight, we win. And we intend to fight this with everything we have. And I respectfully ask for your aye vote

Thank you, colleagues. An attack on one of us is attack on all of us. And so when I saw the raids on and the detention of a garment worker in Los Angeles, I thought of my immigrant grandmother who was a garment worker in New York.

When I saw them taking out shopkeepers, I thought of my immigrant grandfather who came when he was 14 to this country, worked in his brother's store, then set up his own corner store. So attack on one of us is attack on all of us. And that's why I want to stand up today in solidarity with this resolution.

And our friend from Santa Clarita got up and said that this was not about mass deportation. We can't pretend this is not about mass deportation. At the Republican Convention, they'd signs calling for mass deportation. The President has called for mass deportation. We can't pretend this is not about mass deportation. It absolutely is.

And when a high school student came to me last year and educated me about the mass deportation of the 1930s that the majority leader talked about, I dove in and learned about it and learned what a moral disaster it was, what an economic disaster it was.

And we talked about it, the majority leader or not, because we didn't want to see this happen again. And now the President is taking a playbook directly out of the 1930s. So to wrap up, I just want to say I am chair of the Bay Area caucus. We have 27 Bay Area legislators.

And yesterday we met with the Bay Area Council, who did a report about the impact of these raids to California. They get a number of interesting things. One thing I just want to share, because this is really important. I don't think people know this. They said their estimate is 2.3 million undocumented Californians.

Almost half have been here over 20 years. Over 20 years working in our communities. That's who we're targeting. These people have been 20 years working hard, living the American dream, and that's who we're targeting. The report said this would be a $275 billion hit to California's GDP. $275 billion hit.

They said this immigrant population pays $23 billion in taxes, 13 billion to California, 10 billion to the Federal Government for benefits they'll never be able to receive.

Over a third of our agriculture workers, over a third of our construction workers, over a third of our homeworkers and healthcare workers who take care of our kids and take care of the elderly. That is who is being targeted, and that is the economic lens on this.

We know it's a massive humanitarian crisis, but please check out this report talking about the economic impact on this. And that's why we put out a statement. That's why we're absolutely united calling out these raids, standing in solidarity with immigrant community, standing in solidarity with the American dream which is under attack.

Thank you, Senator Choi. You're recognized.

Mine will be very short. I rise today in respectful opposition to Senator Joint Resolution 9, Immigration Enforcement and protecting our nation's borders, specifically federal responsibilities. To paint the federal immigration order as inherently unjust ignores the complexities of immigration policy that our state has enabled for years. Let's be clear.

California could have prevented eyes from entering our neighborhoods, but chose to pass Bill like Senate Bill 54. Without limited communication between the Federal Government and our state's prisons and jails, local law enforcement could be working in cooperation to simply hand over their criminals in prisons and jails to eyes in peaceful way.

We should be working toward clarity and solutions rather than performative measures that only further politicize a serious issue. And we elected officials who pledged our allegiance not only to the flag, but also to the United States that is one nation and indivisible. For these reasons, I urge you to No vote.

Senator. Thank you. The next three up are going to be Senators Hurtado, Menjivar and Richardson. Senator Hurtado.

Thank you, Madam President. Colleagues, I rise today as the chair of the Senate ACT Committee, as the proud daughter of immigrants, and as the Senator that represents Kern county and other counties in the Central Valley in support of SJR9.

Just a couple of weeks ago, and after the raids that happened in Kern, county, the first that happened across the country, I was asked to do an interview. And the interview was with a local conservative radio talk show. And when I got there, I was asked what my thoughts were about the word illegal.

And I can't express what I felt to be asked that. It hurt deep. And what I said to the person who asked the question, I said I would never refer to my parents with that word. And I meant that coming to this country in search of a better life does not make you that word.

And I would never call that to any of you. My farmers or our farm workers. Many of them have different stories coming to this country from Portugal, from Armenia, from Basque country, from India. They all have different stories on how they came to this country.

Where I come from, we know people by their character, not by their paperwork. And we treat people with respect. And I will add that immigrants are some of the biggest patriots you will know. They really are. I've said this before, and I will continue to say It.

They love this country because this country has offered so much to them. After that interview. Well, I was nervous about doing the interview to begin with. I'm glad that I did it because I got a call from a Republican farmer in my district. And, you know, he is a big Trump supporter. He's Republican.

He's a fan of mine as well. But what he told me just last week when he called, he said, Senator, what you said touched my heart. I was proud of you for saying what you said, and I'm proud that you are my state Senator and that you represent me.

So I was trying to get what exactly did I say right, that made him give me a compliment? So he went on to tell me about a young man that he knows, and he refers to him as a young man that he knows. Undocumented, quiet young guy and one of the hardest working hands he knows, he said.

But lately, that young man has been worried about his future. So when that farmer called, he wasn't calling to talk politics. He was calling because he wanted to talk about the deportations. He was calling because he cares.

He cares about this young man because in agriculture, we work together, we eat together, we go through the tough seasons together. You spend enough time working side by side, and folks become like family. And when family gets ripped away, it hurts deep. You don't have to share the same blood. You really don't. For it to hurt deep.

And I can tell from this farmer's voice that this young man's fear of deportation was hurting him personally. It was hurting him personally. And you can tell from his voice, and the fact that he took time to call me to tell me that says a lot about how he feels and how he worries about this young man.

You know, President Trump says he loves farmers. Well, I'll tell you this. Farmers are ready for immigration reform. Many of them in my district are Republicans. And yes, many of them love President Trump, although I think some of that has changed as of lately. But they also love me because I tell the truth and I care.

And the truth is, you can't love farmers and criminalize their work and or their workforce. You can't say you support ag and tear families apart in the same breath.

So what I'd say is, to the President, if he's listening, my message to him would be, President Trump, I know you're a man who likes to make deals, and California is ready for an immigration reform deal. Many of your supporters in my district, those farmers who supported you, they're ready for an immigration reform deal, too.

The deportations are hurting them. Their pain isn't just economic, it's personal. They're seeing divided families, empty seats at dinner tables and missing hands in their harvest. They're ready for something better because mass deportations are not it. Presidente Trump y California esta listos. Tamos listos parona cuerdo De reforma migratoria munchos De Su segidores enmidistrito.

Esos agricultores que load Miran tambien Estan listos para una cuerdo emigratore. The reforma economico es personal porque familias on divididas CIAS vasias en La Mesa Humanos aucentes en La Cosecha. Estan listos paralgo mejor porquestas deportaciones. No es algomejor, colleagues. With that, I respectfully ask for an aye vote on this measure.

Thank you, Senator. The next speakers after this one would be speaker or Senator Richardson, Limon and then Jones. Senator. Men.. Senator Menjivar, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. President. Collecting my bearings. The Senator who just spoke before me, I think gave a really emotional and passionate speech. I rise as a very, very proud Salvadorian American. The highest ranking Salvadorian American elected official in the United States. And my parents fled El Salvador in the 80s during the Civil War.

Where my father witnessed cousins friends killed in front of him during the war. And two years ago, during a delegation trip to El Salvador, I went to the wall of names that bodies were never found. And I found two walls with all men javars on them. Recognizing that those are probably family Members.

There's not a lot of Manjuar and we can all be tracked to a small area in El Salvador. They fled because that was the only option. These raids attacking my community, my gente reminded me of the family Members in my. The people in my family who fled because they needed to, because their life depended on it.

My cousin who was being chased by MS.13 in El Salvador because they wanted to marry her or they would have raped her if they wouldn't have. If she wouldn't have come to the United States.

Or my Trans cousin from El Salvador who had to leave because they were finding out and he would have been arrested and he had to come here. I'm reminded of the attacks on my gente in my community. I think about my tio who spent 10 years here working in construction.

Chase followed his work to Alabama and after a while we stopped hearing from him. My mom and I flew to Alabama looking for him everywhere. And we couldn't find him. For a couple of days we searched and searched, and on the plane ride home, my mom was silent.

I think one of the most painful things is when your parent is hurting. And as a kid, you don't know how to console your parent because the roles are usually reversed. And she thought her brother was dead, but he had been deported. And we had no messaging, no information sent to us.

And those are the stories we're hearing now where families are waiting upwards of two and a half weeks to find out where their family Member is, where they're going with attorneys to, to detainment centers and are not allowed to find out if their family Member is alive, has access to clean water, toilets. And we're seeing the stories.

We know what's happening inside of them. Senator from San Francisco talked about our history, and I recently saw a video about a kid always complaining about, I don't need to learn about history. Why are they teaching us this? We never repeat it.

And as adults, we finally get engaged in history and because then we know and recognize that we do constantly repeat it. Detainment camps for the Japanese Americans with no due process. Round everyone up. Just because you're Japanese, the Jewish people, LGBTQ people who there were raids in bars. Round everyone up.

If you're inside a gay bar, lock them up. No due process. Time and time again, we're going after minorities in the United States. That is our history. That is 249 years of history in the United States. And time and time again, we're shocked and appalled. How can this happen? Under the blue on the red, white and blue.

But that is our history. The detainment camp that just opened up in Florida looks exactly like the camps during World War II. People laughing and smiling that they're going to get people in here in those camps, proud that they want more people in there. And a tweet that said, I hope the alligators eat the people.

That's where we've come to. They're not looked at, we're not looked at as human beings. And in my district, my staffer's father rode an Uber, got in an Uber, was asked for his citizenship, he stuttered. The Uber pulled over unmarked vans, took my staffer's father, a U.S. citizen, but because he stuttered, they assumed he was undocumented.

And for two days he was detained in the desert. Two days until his passport was brought to him. You know what they said? Please just fill out the forms, go back to work. No accountability whatsoever. A woman who had sold tamales for 20 years in Pacoima in front of Loews, came and was attacked, thrown to the floor.

60s in her 60s, thrown to the floor and. And had a heart attack on the floor. There was a nurse there saying, let me help her. I'm a nurse. Was denied medical attention. Is she a criminal? 69% of the people who have been detained have no criminal history.

We've heard from the Senator from Baldwin park talk about, I thought, do it the right way, do the legal way. They're going to their appointment at court, but they're being detained there. I thought that was the right way. File for asylum.

But the Trump Administration, the President issued an Executive order to stop all asylums at the southern border. Luckily, a judge just blocked that. But I thought we wanted to do it the right way. What is it? What it is is that I'm too brown. You're too brown. Your skin is not pale enough. That's what it is.

That's what it comes down to. And when I'm looking at this resolution, what's false about this resolution? It talks about protests were overwhelmingly peaceful. Doesn't lie and say all of them were peaceful. We acknowledge in some scenarios, some things got out of hand. That's not false. It talks about the arrest consists of potential violations of constitutional rights.

Because we're trying to get more information. What's the lie about that in the resolution? And it talks about the intention to intensify nationwide immigration rates. There's no lie there either. When I read the entire resolution, it was fact after fact after fact. They're coming for my family today. They're going to come for your family tomorrow.

If we don't lock arms right now, regardless of who you represent, to protect the 40 million Californians that live here, who else will do it? Asking for an aye vote on SJR 9.

Thank you, Senator. Senator Richardson, followed by Senator Limon, Senator Jones, Senator Perez. Senator. Senator Richardson, you are recognized.

Well, good morning, Mr. President and friends and colleagues. You know, we heard a little bit about history this morning, and so I started Googling some things. And I remembered that when I first went to Congress, George W. Bush, a Republican, strongly supported a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

And then I remembered a fight with Republican Congressman Eric Cantor, and he was the second highest Republican, and he ended up losing his bid to speakership and his primary because he supported citizenship for dreamers. And I thought, isn't it interesting that here we are about ready to celebrate this country's Independence? I won't say everyone's Independence.

And it's like we're seeming to forget that we've had brave people who've understood that we're all immigrants. I'm an immigrant. My great grandmother came here. Her name is Mary Donnelly, from Ireland. You don't get much more Irish than that.

My great grandfather, Henry Christian Fritzler, an immigrant from Germany, and the two of them dared to marry in New York because Germans and Irish didn't get together. And then we mixed it in with my grandfather Johnny Richardson, who was part of.

His father was a slave brought here illegally, and his mother was a Cherokee who lived in Oklahoma, where many Cherokees come from. And then you add to it. My grandmother, Bertha Batiste, immigrant, influenced with the French, coming over to New Orleans. So that's why you get Laura 2.0, because you got all that going on.

But when I think about it, and I think about today, I think we can't be hypocritical. Even our own President. Did you know that his three children, when they were born, their mother was an immigrant? Did you know that? That she didn't become a citizen until 1988. And the three children were born in 19771981 and 1984.

And then his third wife, Ironic. Their son was born in 2006. Did you know that she didn't become a citizen until 2006? It's kind of interesting. So let me paint a picture for you. In my district, when I was on the City Council, we were doing immigration workshops.

Not everyone has the benefit of the money and the lawyers to become citizens. It's not that people don't want to become a citizen. If you ask them. The average cost of someone to become a citizen today is probably about 15 to $20,000.

And even then, you still get put off from meetings and meetings and appointments and appointments and lawyers who fail to do the job that they've taken the oath to do. So as I close my comments, I want to remind you of something, because a lot of my family's from New York.

And one of the most exciting places that people are going to go to celebrate this country's Independence is going to be in New York. And they're going to go to the Statue of Liberty. And what does the Statue of Liberty say? It's a powerful symbol of the tensions between national Independence and universal human rights.

It's an imposing woman, 300ft tall. She holds a torch not as a weapon, not as a chain creating a fence. She holds the torch as a light to the pathway to A free country. And what does she hold in her left hand? She holds a tablet.

And it's not the tablet of the Constitution, it's a tablet of the Declaration of Independence. So when we think about this country and what we're talking about today, going to remind you of that famous poem that's on that Statue of Liberty and it's never been replaced. It says, permission to read without objection. Give me notice. Give me.

The Statue of Liberty was asking, give me. Why aren't we saying give me? Why are we saying no? Why aren't we saying give me. You're tired, you're poor, you're huddled masses. The Statue of Liberty is a symbol not of just your family getting in, but all families coming in masses, yearning to breathe free.

Send the Senator. Senator, I would like to direct conversation to the presiding officer or. We're not pointing at anybody.

I didn't intend to point at any of you. Send these. Doesn't say go back. Where are your papers? Did you fill this out? Is your mother, Is your father? Says, send these. The homeless. Even the Statue of Liberty knew that everyone coming would not be perfect. Send these. The homeless. The tempest toss to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

Thank you, Senator. We have Senators Limon, Jones and Perez next. Senator Limon.

Thank you, Madam President. I rise in support of SJR9 and I think like many here today and the magnitude of voices that have spoken up, we're speaking up because we deeply care. We are deeply impacted by what is happening in our communities.

And we're also reflecting not just on the present of what our communities are living, but what could be the future and the history that has gotten us here. The district I represent had 40 farm workers detained. Our community watched farm workers being chased, being tackled while they were doing work.

In this moment and in what happened in the District, we had a 12 year old who was left without parents, a 12 year old who did not know what happened to his parents except that they had been detained.

People who had been in this country for over 20 years doing the work that California is so proud of, picking the food that is on all of our table every single day during our meals. And as I got to understand and reflect on what was happening in the District, I thought a lot about this 12 year old.

I thought about being a parent and not knowing who is going to tell your child where you are at, what has happened, when you may come back or the fact that you will never come back.

To hear a child's voice cracking, to see a child Weeping to know that legally we don't know what happens to that child next is inhumane. There are a lot of descriptors that we can use about what is happening.

But I want to start with the fact that we are breaking families up, that people are living in fear and there is deep rooted pain about the division that is happening and what is being sowed in our community. We have heard that it's going to be this person and not that person.

It turns out all of us are impacted. When discrimination comes, for one, it's coming for all of us. When fear is sowed in one pocket of our community, it is sowed throughout our community.

I know that for many of us, when we see what is happening in our community and you've heard our colleagues say this, we know we don't need to be told. We know it can be us next. We see what is happening in our communities and see some of our elders.

When I saw farm workers being chased, I thought that could have been my grandpa who came here as a bracero who came and worked the fields between Oxnard and the Central Valley to pick strawberries, to pick tomatoes.

I thought about the fact that my parents are immigrants and I am the proud daughter of immigrant parents, the proud daughter of someone who worked the lands of California to feed our state.

And think about the fact that this is beyond concerning to us, that we are rising with deep concern, with an ask for this to stop, with an ask that says if the what is happening and impacting, if a child that is crying, that doesn't have parents right now doesn't move your heart, can you look at other reasons, any reasons to make this stop, including the fact that we're tearing up our community and economy at the same time?

Both things are happening. So I know that many of us have spoken up. I know that many of us have expressed our concerns and it is because our ask is for this to stop.

Our ask is for a broader understanding of the impact that this is having to so many of us, no matter what our status is, that our communities are hurting and our economy is being impacted in a negative way.

Whatever our reasons are, we rise in support of SJR9 and ask those who also care about any of these impacts to communities, to the economy, to the workforce, to the future, to also stand with us in supporting SJR9.

Thank you, Senator. Senator Jones.

Thank you, Madam President. I rise in opposition to SJR 9. And some of the speaking points today are not lost on me on the lack of irony. I'll Start off briefly with my family's immigration story, since we're that seems to be part of the focus this morning.

Part of my family immigrated From Germany in 1900, a family of five with a sixth on the way in the belly of a steel ship from Germany to New York.

Through storms and turmoil, the ship nearly sank as it was taking on water, but fortunately they were able to make it and land safely in the United States of America. One of the things that's been mentioned today is peaceful has been mentioned many times. I think.

It's hard to argue that throwing bricks and rocks and boulders over bridges onto police cars is a symbol of peace, peacefulness. That was a deliberate act of violence. One of the comments that really struck me this morning from the speakers in favor of SJR9 was no violence prior to the occupation of the federal troops.

Please don't forget steps 12 and 3 before we got to the occupation in quotes of the federal troops. What started that was the violence of convicted criminal illegal aliens that were wreaking havoc on their communities that you wouldn't allow the local jurisdictions to cooperate with the federal agencies to have them placed in federal custody.

Don't forget that part of the foundation of where we are today. Are the. Immigration policies of the Biden Administration that let hundreds of thousands and millions of people cross the border without knowing who they are, where they came from, or why they are here.

And today we are learning that these same federal agencies that you are denouncing are arresting known terrorists across this country and properly putting them through the judicial system to properly convict them and Deport them or put them in prison. That is a lack of leadership from the Biden Administration and the supermajority party here in 2017.

Before 2018, in California, federal immigration authorities would routinely show up at local county jails and state prisons when violent criminal illegal aliens are being released. The county jail or CDCR would give the feds advance notice. They'd show up and take them off our hands for removal proceedings properly and legally.

Then in 2017, the supermajority under the leadership of the pro tem at the time passed SB54, jammed it through, as a matter of fact. Now these violent criminals that the feds once grabbed at the jailhouse are instead released to run free in our communities, your communities that you've all stood up so eagerly to defend.

And I will defend your community with you, by the way. So the feds now must enter all of our communities to conduct raids and track down these violent aliens. Democrats in this very house brought these raids into our communities.

And now the majority party in this house have the gall to bring forward a resolution blaming everyone but themselves for the mess that has been created. We need to get violent. We need to get violent criminal, illegal aliens off the streets of California and the rest of the country.

We need to rid our community of cartels and gang Members who have come here illegally on purpose to do harm to all of us. This is harming the entire state and country.

We need to work hand in hand with our federal partners to ensure our streets are free from the mayhem and death that is flowing in from our southern border and other parts of the country. What's not lost on me this morning is the comments about tyrannical dictatorship.

When you watch the actions of this Administration and you see in broad areas of our economy, our government, our bureaucracies, that this Administration is clamping down on those bureaucracies and releasing us from the burden of over regulation and over taxation that has become normal in our country.

But then, more specifically, and I think, as some of us have agreed across the aisle on this, that the immigration community has become political pawns of both parties. And it's not lost on me that I got elected in 2010 to the Assembly when illegal immigration was the biggest topic of the day in 2010.

And I'll admit that some of my ideas, philosophies, and policies regarding illegal immigration have matured since then. And I truly do believe that in a bipartisan fashion, we all could come up with a solution to this that would make sense for California and make sense for the rest of the country.

But here, where I was going with what's not lost on me after all of the failed administrations in dealing with illegal immigration, this Administration that you all so happily call tyrannical and dictatorship might actually be the Administration that solves the problem, might actually be the Administration that comes up with a solution that we can all live with.

And just to close on this, the President has already said this week, in response to some of our concerns and letters and in response to some of the other concerns and letters around the country, that he's going to work with his Administration to come up with policies that make sense for the workers that are here and not criminally involved in illegal activity, I say hooray, and you all should be, too. I asked for a no vote on SJR 9.

Senator Perez.

Thank you, Madam President. I rise in strong support of SJR9. And you know, I just have to take a quick moment to just acknowledge what the good Senator from San Diego just shared. Because for me, it is just so incredibly personally insulting to have him suggest that Democrats were the ones that created this mess.

You know, I don't know if the good Senator from San Diego has read SB54. He mentioned that he got elected in 2010, but I have to wonder if maybe he's a newly elected Member because if he had actually sat down and read the legislation.

We just can't have any personal attacks against any Member of this body.

Yes, that this is legislation that clearly dictates when law enforcement may partner with with immigration enforcement. That is publicly available information for everyone. We should all enjoy the power of reading. And I invite everybody to open up their Google search and take time to do that.

You know, in regards to SJR9 and the violent immigration raids that we've seen all across Los Angeles County, but particularly in my area in Pasadena, an area that was destroyed by the Eaton fires, it has been so incredibly devastating.

We have had Members of our community that have been detained that have lost their homes, people that have lost absolutely everything and now are worried that their family Members are going to be taken. When these raids began, I had families calling me from inside their hotel rooms asking me if they should stay with their kids in their cars.

That is the reality for folks aid organizations that have distributed $15,000 just in the last four days so that we can ensure that our day laborers and that our vendors are able to stay home because they are so scared of being taken out on the streets. We are watching people's constitutional rights being violated on a day to day basis. I have never been so shocked and disturbed in my life.

I have trouble sleeping because I get phone calls and text messages on a regular basis of people seeing Ayes in their communities, fearful about what to do next, people being chased down the street and then racist threats being made by people claiming to be immigration enforcement.

I had a Member of my community, a US citizen that saw these ICE raids happening in Pasadena just last weekend. And one of these immigration enforcement officers came up to her and told her, shut the F up or I will Deport you back to your country that you came from.

To which she looked at him and said, I'm a citizen of this country. What are you talking about? That is what is happening in our streets. That is what is happening in our neighborhoods. This has nothing to do with party. And I invite any Member of this body to come to Pasadena to see what is happening.

This is an attack on Latinos. That's what is happening. And honestly, it is beginning to spread. I represent one of the largest Chinese communities in the State of California, and they have been attacking API Members as well. And we're seeing the ripple effects throughout our economy, throughout our workforce.

We've been talking so much about the rebuilding process and what that's going to look like for Altadena and Pasadena, that that needs to be expeditious. Who on earth do you think is going to build the new housing? Who on earth do you think is going to do lot cleanups? It's people that look like me.

It's people that look like Members of this body. And they cannot come out for work because they don't feel safe. But beyond that, beyond the economic impact, we should care because these are our neighbors, because we care about community, because we took an oath and a responsibility to defend Californians.

I said months ago, back in January, when these fires first happened and we needed to get resources down to folks, guess what? Immigrant communities are not eligible for FEMA. They are not eligible for the federal aid and recovery that American citizens enjoy.

So those folks right now are existing on the edge of poverty, about to fall into homelessness, and then you have this happening like it is absolutely absurd. We have to step up and do more.

And the reality is that we also need to show up for our immigrant Members when we get asked as elected Members of this body for help and for assistance. We have people that approach us and we don't ask them for their immigration status. And that doesn't matter. And it should not matter.

We are there to serve the public. We are there to support people. And that is what is most important. So I rise today in just shock that this is even controversial. This should be straightforward.

The fact that we have masked people with no ID, displaying, not displaying which agency that they're a part of arresting people in our communities is appalling. It's unacceptable. We have vigilantes now taking advantage of that. Buses that have been stopped in Los Angeles Unified School District with people impersonating ICE officers.

We had in Huntington Park somebody impersonating an ICE officer. There's reports of Latina women being targeted by impersonators seeking to sexually assault them. When are we going to draw the line?

When are we going to say that this is enough, that this is lawlessness and if we truly care about public safety, that this is not the way to do it? So I am just so shocked. My Community is tired. We are all tired to go through one of the biggest fires in California history.

And now to deal with this, I've asked, and I've gotten on the phone and literally begged, begged the FBI to leave Pasadena alone, to leave Altadena alone, because we are exhausted. And I don't know what happens when you go after somebody that's lost absolutely everything.

We are driving people to the point of no return, and folks have nowhere to go. They have nothing. That is the reality for residents in my area. They literally have nothing. So I don't just urge an aye vote. I ask everybody in this body to find humanity.

And all of this, everything that's been discussed about what happened in LA and whether or not it's peaceful, come to Pasadena, come visit us. I'd be happy to have my constituents talk to you. You can see how we do things. You can see the incredible way that they've been organizing to support one another.

And I think it just speaks volumes about humanity. But we have to do more. This resolution is literally the baseline. Thank you.

We're going to have Senator Laird out. Allen and Stern.

Senator, thank you. Madam President, I rise in support of SJR9 in my district, which contains a tremendous amount of agriculture and is very diverse. School attendance is down because kids who are citizens are afraid with their parents to be out. Agricultural work is down. Just the economy is really hurt. There's just noticeable difference because of the fear.