Good morning.
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Let’s turn it over to Jennifer Medina , a national correspondent based in Los Angeles, for today’s introduction.
President Trump began rolling out his plans to aggressively transform the nation’s immigration laws on Wednesday, signing a pair of executive orders — one called for the start of construction of a wall along the border with Mexico and the other demanded holding back federal money from so-called sanctuary cities.
And the reaction in California was swift: Elected Democractic officials from all over the state blasted the president’s orders.
Just an hour after President Trump spoke at the Department of Homeland Security, State Senate Democrats held a news conference in Sacramento, announcing that they were prepared to take the fight over sanctuary cities to court. Earlier this month, the Democratic-led Legislature hired former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to represent them in any legal battle with the White House. They said Mr. Trump’s order violated the 10th Amendment by forcing local governments to enforce federal statutes.
“These are spiteful and meanspirited directives that will only instill fear in the hearts of millions of people who pay taxes, contribute to the economy and our way of life,” Kevin de Leon, the Democratic leader of the State Senate, said.
By some definitions, the entire state of California is a sanctuary state. A law passed in 2014 prohibits local jails from holding immigrants any longer than required by criminal law, with exceptions for violent and other serious crimes. And most counties in the state also prohibit holding immigrants beyond their sentence if federal immigration agents do not have a judicial order. And legislation currently making its way through the Legislature would further expand the law, by prohibiting all state and local law enforcement agencies to respond to requests from immigration authorities.
The mayors of San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland and Berkeley released a joint statement vowing to keep their existing policies in place. Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, who has long shied away from the term sanctuary city, said the Police Department would continue its four-decades-old policy that prohibits officers from questioning people for the purpose of determining their immigration status and arresting them for illegal entry to the United States.
“We all want a nation of laws, but we are also a nation of immigrants,” Mayor Garcetti said in a brief interview.
How the executive order will play out over the next several years remains murky.
Ingrid Eagly , a professor at U. C. L. A., specializes in immigration law. We caught up with her via email to ask how clashes between leaders of sanctuary cities and the federal government might unfold.
• What obstacles could the federal government face to cutting off funds to sanctuary cities?
• How painful could the cuts be?
• How would sanctuary jurisdictions be defined?
(Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.)
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• San Diego adopted a plan to significantly expand its tree canopy . [ San Diego Union-Tribune ]
• When will rain-soaked California drop its water conservation measures? [ The Associated Press ]
• Peter Thiel , the biggest Trump supporter in Silicon Valley, became a New Zealand citizen in 2011. [ The New York Times ]
• In the race against fake news , Google and Facebook have only strolled to the starting line. [ The New York Times ]
• Lee O’Denat , who created WorldStarHipHop.com, hip-hop’s streaming video id, died in San Diego. He was 43. [ The New York Times ]
• At a San Francisco food trade show , cauliflower-based pizza dough and chocolate-covered quinoa. [ The New York Times ]
• A plan is in the works to reintroduce endangered California condors to the state’s north. [ San Francisco Chronicle ]
• Video: The beauty of the San Gabriel Mountains from above the clouds. [ Vimeo ]
It’s peak birthing time for elephant seals along the California coast.
Each year from December through March, colonies of northern elephant seals gather on beaches to perform their birthing and mating rituals.
John Menke , a retired marine ecology professor, shared an image he captured last week of the Piedras Blancas rookery, just north of San Simeon.
Mr. Menke, 73, leads field trips at Piedras Blancas. He noted that the seals had packed in tightly to protect their pups from being swept away by the big waves.
The scene can be raucous — newborn pups squeal, females cry out while giving birth, and floppy-nosed males as big as 2.5 tons snort and fight for mating dominance.
To see the action, there are viewing areas at both Piedras Blancas and Año Nuevo State Park , where another big colony gathers north of Santa Cruz. There is also a live webcam.
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The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a third-generation Californian — born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Davis. Follow him on Twitter.
California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and attended U. C. Berkeley.
