The Center Square) — Six California Republican state lawmakers sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging Immigration and Customs Enforcement to avoid “sweeping raids” and create “a path to legal status” for “non-criminal undocumented immigrants.”
“We have heard from employers in our districts that recent ICE raids are not only targeting undocumented workers, but also creating widespread fear among other employees, including those with legal immigration status,” wrote the lawmakers. “we urge you to direct ICE and DHS to focus their enforcement operations on criminal immigrants, and when possible to avoid the kinds of sweeping raids that instill fear and disrupt the workplace.”
Signatories included state Sen. Minority Leader Brian Jones, R-San Diego. Jones authored a bill that failed in committee that would have required the prisons and jails in California to provide requested release dates to federal immigration officials for individuals convicted of serious or violent felonies or wobblers — crimes serious enough to be prosecuted as either a felony or a misdemeanor.
Under existing state law, such cooperation is prohibited except in limited cases involving some serious or violent crimes.
“We also call on your leadership to modernize our immigration process to allow non-criminal undocumented immigrants with longstanding ties to our communities a path toward legal status,” the letter continued. “America needs a system that reflects both compassion and lawfulness — one that upholds sovereignty while recognizing the reality on the ground.”
“The last President to successfully tackle this issue was Ronald Reagan nearly 40 years ago, and it is long past time to modernize our immigration policies,” the lawmakers wrote.
Reagan’s 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act allowed approximately three million undocumented immigrants who had continuously resided in the United States since before Jan. 1, 1982, to secure legal status. The last time a Republican presidential candidate won California was 1988 when Vice President George H.W. Bush was elected president.
“Finally, we urge you to expand and reform the H-2A and H-2B visa programs to authorize more legal guest workers across the entire economy, and to streamline the process to make it easier for vital industries to get the workers they need,” wrote the lawmakers. “From construction to hospitality to food processing, California’s employers are struggling to fill positions.”
According to the American Farm Bureau, the federal government authorized 384,900 H-2A temporary agriculture visas. The H-2B visa program for temporary non-agricultural workers is capped at 66,000 per year.
The state’s latest jobs report found 5.3% of Californians, or 1.1 million, were unemployed in May. The latest federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data on California found there were 659,000 job openings in March 2025, suggesting there may be nearly two unemployed Californians for every open job.
The letter’s signatories included primary author Sen. Suzette Valladares, R-Santa Clarita, along with Sens. Jones, Rosilicie Ochoa-Bogh, R-Yucaipa, and Assemblymembers Heath Flora, R-Ripon; Diane Dixon, R-Newport Beach, and Laurie Davies, R-Laguna Niguel.
