Philp: California Democrats defend immigrant health care but need a broader agenda

In the recent state budget approved by Sacramento Democrats, lawmakers gave a high priority to preserving health care for Californians without legal status as they eliminated the main program to shelter the state’s homeless residents.

In the approved federal budget, President Donald Trump has frozen available funding for needs such as international aid and university research as he has increased spending on what he vows to be the largest deportation of immigrants in U.S. history.

Undocumented immigrants are emerging as a core constituency for Sacramento Democrats just as they are villains for conservatives. Mass migration is despised by this ideological sect, not only in this country but throughout the world.

This stark contrast in the standing of immigrants is playing out first in California, and could diminish this state in just about every aspect, from the size of its economy to its population to its political power.

California has been fueled by immigrants since its infancy, but the flow of international newcomers to the United States has essentially ground to a halt. Immigrants seeking asylum since Trump regained the presidency have dropped by about 90%.

A generation ago, immigration allowed California to grow, while those previously living here have left the state in droves — more than 4 million since 2020.

But now Trump is cutting off the state’s economic lifeblood just as Democratic leadership is doubling down on undocumented immigrants as a spending priority.

The current approved budget spends an estimated $12 billion in state funds on health care for these immigrants. Polls show most Californians support this health care rather than the alternative.

The budget “is also based on shared sacrifice,” Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas of Hollister said in a statement. “We’re not turning our backs on California’s most vulnerable.”

The Democrat’s commitment to these immigrants without legal status, compared to other unmet needs, is extraordinary.

Take, for example, another vulnerable California population — the homeless. The approved budget eliminates funding for the single largest state program that funds local shelter programs throughout the state, the Homeless, Housing Assistance and Prevention Program.

Among the other needs largely unmet is a punching bag for the right, California’s high-speed rail program. The latest estimates suggest that finishing the first leg of the project, 171 miles of track from Merced to Bakersfield, will require an additional $10 billion (about $35 billion in all). Completing this project for the Democrats in their political lifetimes doesn’t seem to be a priority.

If the Democrats’ aversion to new construction and infrastructure in California was limited to high speed rail, that would be one thing. But it’s not. We haven’t been building. Sacramento’s stranding of high-speed rail exemplifies a much broader failure of the Democrats when it comes to keeping up with new construction and infrastructure. Those 4 million former Californians who left here went to states that are doing what we are not — building more and more housing to welcome these residents while keeping the cost of apartments and homes more affordable.

On a per-capita basis, California ranks 35th out of 50 states in terms of new construction. On a numeric basis, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have clobbered Gov. Gavin Newsom in the race to build new units.

Our chronic dearth of housing construction, particularly for lower income and middle class Californians, may be enough to swing the nationwide balance of power more to the right. The upcoming 2030 national census will determine how many congressional seats will go to each state. There have been some earlier predictions that California could lose as many as five seats to red states that are growing much faster — a stunning drop in the state’s power. Time will tell.

If Newsom and the Democratic leadership want to minimize and even reverse the exodus, a bricks-and-mortar infrastructure agenda needs to emerge that matches the priority to protect the immigrants that help run this economy.

Fighting Trump simply isn’t enough. A laser focus on making this state more affordable and livable is the greatest weapon of them all.

Tom Philp is a Sacramento Bee columnist. ©2025 The Sacramento Bee. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.