California is not out of control,’ leaders tell Trump

SACRAMENTO, California: California leaders pushed back on Monday against President Donald Trump’s claim that the state is ‘out of control,’ pointing to its balanced budget and high jobs numbers in the latest dust up between the populist Republican and the progressive state.

The state’s top Democrats called Trump cruel and his proposals unconstitutional after the businessman- turned- politician threatened to withold federal funding from the most populous US state if lawmakers passed a so- called sanctuary bill aimed at protecting undocumented immigrants.

“President Trump’s threat to weaponise federal funding is not only unconstitutional but emblematic of the cruelty he seeks to impose on our most vulnerable communities,” state Senate Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, a Democrat from Los Angeles, said in a statement on Monday.

State Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, an LA- area Democrat, said the state has the most manufacturing jobs in the nation, and produces a quarter of the country’s food.

The latest war of words between Trump and Democratic leaders in California, where voters chose his opponent, Hillary Clinton, two-toone in November’s election, began Sunday, in an interview between Trump and Fox News host Bill O’Reilly.

During the interview, O’Reilly asked Trump about a bill in the state legislature, authored by de Leon, to ban law enforcement agencies in the state from cooperating with immigration officials in most circumstances.

Cities who have enacted similar bans are known as sanctuary cities, and de Leon’s bill, if passed and signed into law by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown, would effectively extend such rules to the entire state. — Reuters