Calif. leaders pledge $30M for immigrants

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Jerry Brown and top lawmakers announced Tuesday that they plan to spend $30 million helping young immigrants with legal services and college financial aid.

The announcement comes in response to President Donald Trump’s decision to end a program that gives temporary protection from deportation to people brought to the country illegally as children or by parents who overstayed visas. The proposal requires legislative approval this week before lawmakers head home for the year.

The Assembly and Senate acted on dozens of other proposals throughout the day, including criminal sentence reductions, lowering the voting age and barring employers from asking about applicants’ salary history. Both chambers will reconvene Wednesday for a full day of voting.

Of the $30 million for immigrant aid, $20 million would go toward legal services for participants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program. Another $10 million would go toward financial aid for participants in the program, with $7 million for community college students, $2 million for California State University students and $1 million for University of California students.

More than 200,000 of the 800,000 DACA participants live in California. The Trump administration plans to phase out the program over the next six months if Congress doesn’t make it permanent. California is one of 19 states suing the Trump administration over the decision to end the program.

“We will not let one man with xenophobic tendencies undercut years of progress we have made in California to integrate these young adults into our society and economy,” state Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin de Leon, a Los Angeles Democrat, said in a statement.