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Community leaders urge legislature to condemn federal rhetoric, fund prevention and protect immigrants, students and LGBTQ Californians
Summary
Leaders of civil-rights, immigrant-rights, faith-based, AAPI and LGBTQ organizations told a California Assembly select committee that hate and targeted enforcement have intensified and urged the Legislature to fund security grants, legal help, language access and protections for courts, schools and health care.
Panelists representing multiple protected communities told the Assembly select committee about increased threats, rising hate incidents and practical needs they say the state should address.
Rick Callender, president of the California–Hawaii State Conference of the NAACP, told the committee that structural racism and targeted policing continue to harm Black Californians and urged investments in police oversight, restorative-justice programs in schools, health-care access and environmental justice measures in frontline communities.
Representatives from the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) described intensified xenophobic federal rhetoric and aggressive immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles County. CHIRLA’s Janette Sunifatine recounted reports of warrantless arrests, denials of attorney access and arrests during routine immigration appointments; she called for state oversight, protections for court and USCIS access and stronger safeguards for privacy and due process.
David Bocarsley of the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California described a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents over the past five years and urged the legislature to treat antisemitism as a distinct, complex form of identity‑based hate, to pass protections like AB 715 for students and to fund security and education programs.
Eileen Louie of Asian Americans Advancing Justice–SoCal described language-access barriers and “disappearing” community members in AAPI enclaves after ICE actions, including reported business slowdowns and people missing from communities. She asked the legislature to keep courts ICE‑free, fund language-access legal assistance and protect longstanding API enclaves.
Usama Muqaddim of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR‑California) and Tony Huang of Equality California described escalating Islamophobia and anti‑LGBTQ rhetoric, respectively. CAIR urged protections for free speech on campuses and restrictions on law-enforcement targeting of immigrant communities; Equality California urged state action to protect transgender youth, safeguard health data and expand nonprofit security grants for clinics and community centers.
Across the panel, common legislative requests included: clear public condemnation of targeted federal rhetoric, sustained funding for the nonprofit security grant program and Stop the Hate initiatives, expansion of language-access and legal-assistance funding, protections to prevent ICE enforcement actions at state courts and schools, and continued protection for DEI programming and transgender health care. Panelists asked the committee to share evidence-based public messaging strategies and to coordinate cross-community solidarity work.
Several panelists said they will provide written recommendations and stand ready for follow-up briefings to help the legislature craft bills and budget requests.
