California Governor Newsom vows "sanctuary to all who seek it" at inauguration

California's new governor is promising the most populous state will be a "sanctuary to all who seek it" in a direct affront to President Donald Trump's immigration policies.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom challenged the Trump administration repeatedly as he was sworn in to office Monday, particularly on immigration.

The former San Francisco mayor became the state's 40th governor, succeeding the term-limited Jerry Brown.

"People's lives, freedom, security, the water we drink, the air we breathe - they all hang in the balance," Newsom, 51, told a crowd of hundreds packed into a tent outside the state Capitol.

He says children should not be "ripped away from their parents" at the border, and they also shouldn't be left hungry while Trump pledges to spend billions of dollars on "a wall that should never be built."

While he avoided referencing Trump by name, Newsom referred to the administration as corrupt and incompetent and promised California will "write America's future."

Even as he needled Trump, Newsom offered an overture to voters in rural California, millions of whom voted for Trump and John Cox, Newsom's Republican rival in November.

"I recognize that many in our rural communities believe that Sacramento doesn't care about them - doesn't even really see them," he said. "I see you. I care about you. And I will represent you with pride."

Reader Comments

Yupo · 2019-01-08T12:01:26Z

Build the wall around California?

sbc · 2019-01-08T13:01:28Z

They have no money for immigrants. Lmfaooooo!!!!!

baron · 2019-01-08T13:14:47Z

Except for gun owners. He left that part out: Fricking communist pig.

Anna1 · 2019-01-08T14:17:52Z

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore."
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People can be viewed as assets; the capital base of a community; a store of value.

Bezel Bub · 2019-01-08T15:39:03Z

Anna1 the capital base of a community; a store of value.

AKA Democratic voters and future tax donkeys...

baron · 2019-01-08T16:14:19Z

Anna1 The base being what in this case? One only has to look at how this exact same method was used in other nations and in other times to lower the intellectual level, to lower wages, to destroy communities, to destroy values. Immigration is not the issue. Mass immigration is an issue. Americanization of foreign immigrants takes at least 2 or 3 generations and even with that there is no such thing as a melting pot. Importing foreign cultures that will not assimilate to Western Cultural Values cannot lead to any positive outcome and is a dangerous and unsound policy. We have enough problems in the US & Canada without importing more that are founded upon religious values.

Bezel Bub · 2019-01-08T15:44:41Z

Love Trump or hate him...he IS the president, and a MAJORITY OF AMERICANS wanted him to be in office. California DOES NOT get to dictate to the rest of the United States. Truth be told, CA is already a foreign country, and might as well be a part of Mexico. We should just secede from CA, and when we build the wall...include them on the other side of it...