Days after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis, Californians across the state took to the streets to voice their opposition against federal immigration enforcement tactics and President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
Over the weekend thousands of demonstrators gathered in Sacramento, San Francisco and the Bay Area, the Central Valley and Southern California including Los Angeles and San Diego in remembrance of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who was killed during an ICE operation.
Protests remained largely peaceful, though one demonstration Friday night in Santa Ana led to U.S. Department of Homeland Security officers firing what appeared to be less lethal munitions into a crowd of protesters, according to ABC 7. One officer was reported dragging a protester who was bloodied by the clash, but local police did not report any arrests from that event.
The shooting also came into focus on Saturday during a gubernatorial candidate forum in L.A., reports the Los Angeles Times. During the union-backed event, which included a panel of eight Democrats, U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell said “Ms. Good should be alive today.”
The Trump administration has maintained that the officer who shot Good feared for his life. The California Republican Party circulated a video of First Assistant U.S. Attorney and former Republican Assemblymember Bill Essayli defending ICE’s actions, arguing that “officers are fully justified in using any force they need to protect their lives.”
Good’s killing follows the death of Keith Porter, another American, who was shot and killed on Dec. 31 by an off-duty ICE officer in the L.A. neighborhood of Northridge.
In response to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, some Democratic state legislators have recently introduced bills to curb ICE activity, including proposals that would limit arrests in courthouses and enable Californians to sue for damages from federal agents — though questions about the measures’ legality and enforcement capabilities remain.
CalMatters events: Mi Escuelita, a San Diego preschool, is transforming how young children recover from trauma. Join our event on Feb. 5, in person in Chula Vista or virtually, to hear from California leaders in trauma-informed care about what works, what it takes to sustain it and how policymakers can expand these programs. Register today.
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Other Stories You Should Know
Newsom’s last budget show
Let the bargaining begin.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $349 billion state spending plan is on the table, reports CalMatters’ Yue Stella Yu.
Now all he has to do is get lawmakers on board with proposals that many of them won’t especially like, including consolidating more power of education under his office at the expense of the elected state superintendent; clipping funding for homelessness; and holding the line on health care spending at a time when the Trump administration is overhauling how it pays for Medicaid.
It could work — as long as the AI boom that’s padding state tax revenue keeps going.
The governor’s budget projects $9 billion more in revenue than anticipated and a “modest” $2.9 billion shortfall for the 2026-27 fiscal year. His proposal also calls for spending almost $30 billion more compared to this year.
The budget plan would fully fund the state’s transitional kindergarten program, provide an additional $715 million combined to its two public university systems and increase special education funding by more than $500 million.
Funding for other state initiatives, however, would be significantly gutted: Newsom proposed halving a $1 billion infusion for cities and counties’ homelessness services, and cutting $15 billion from the state’s spending that goes toward combatting the effects of climate change.
AI adversaries team up on ballot initiative
A nonprofit organization that advocates for children’s safety online and the artificial intelligence powerhouse OpenAI are teaming up to place a measure on the November ballot that would help protect kids in California from companion chatbots, writes CalMatters’ Khari Johnson.
Common Sense Media and OpenAI, which created ChatGPT, filed a ballot proposal Thursday to mandate various safeguards against chatbots. These include:
- Requiring chatbot developers to apply protective settings for people with a predicted age of 17 and younger.
- Banning child-targeted advertising and the sale of kids’ data without parental consent.
- Preventing AI systems from promoting social isolation or simulating romantic relationships with kids.
The measure reflects a compromise between the two entities, after each planned their own separate and competing ballot initiatives that would have taken different paths toward regulating chatbots. Those proposals had stipulations that the one that got the most “yes” votes would win.
OpenAI’s measure largely reflected existing law, while the one from Common Sense included proposed regulations that were ultimately dropped in the new ballot initiative, such as a ban on minors from using chatbots capable of engaging in sexually explicit talk.
And lastly: CA is drought free
California reached a welcomed milestone last week after the U.S. Drought Monitor reported that the state was completely drought free — the first time California has not experienced abnormal dryness in a quarter of a century. Check out CalMatters’ drought monitor for more info.
California Voices
CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: If the state budget’s projected revenue increase is accurate, Newsom can conclude his governorship with California’s finances no longer plagued by deficits, but the new forecast should be viewed skeptically.
Until insurance companies are held accountable for malfeasance and delays, homeowners who survived the Southern California wildfires will continue to be victimized, writes Richard Rieber, an Altadena resident whose home was damaged in the fire.
As California’s next insurance chief, I pledge to expand the department’s rate review team, modernize its rate regulation bureau and work to decrease the number of FAIR Plan policies, writes Steven Bradford, a former state legislator from Gardena who is running for Insurance Commissioner.
Other things worth your time:
Judge temporarily blocks Trump’s $5B child care funding freeze to CA // KQED
No campaign? No problem. Inside CA political elites’ shadowy spending // The Sacramento Bee
Trump administration proposes CO River options that could hit CA hard // Los Angeles Times
PG&E plans to remove century-old CA dams. But there’s a new obstacle: Trump // San Francisco Chronicle
CA ends Medicaid coverage of weight loss drugs despite TrumpRx plan // KFF Health News
Thiel gives $3M to group seeking to block CA wealth tax // The New York Times
The shocking case of LA’s ‘zombie’ fire — and the young man at the center of it // The Guardian