California bill would create immigrant and refugee agency

Majority Leader Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) said she has introduced the Senate Bill (SB) 12 legislation to establish a new state agency dedicated to Immigrant and Refugee Affairs. 

State legislature started its session today at the state Capitol in Sacramento. 

As the first bill in her 2025 legislative package, SB12 would provide a permanent governmental framework focused on streamlining services, creating grant programs, and engaging stakeholders to enhance support for immigrant and refugee families in California. 

“In the face of an incoming Trump Administration that has promised to take hostile actions against immigrant communities, California must be prepared more than ever before,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “Trump’s promises of mass deportations and the unprecedented threat of deploying the US Military to remove undocumented Americans would hurt not only immigrant families, but all California families, our economy, and the cultural and social benefits that new Californians bring to our communities.” 

Nearly half of California’s children have at least one immigrant parent, and 27% of the state’s population is foreign-born—the highest share of any state and more than double the national average.  

“It is terrifying to think about the dire impacts of the callous proposed actions targeting some of our most hardworking Californians,” said Gonzalez. “California must remain steadfast in protecting the rights of our immigrant communities, and creating a state agency dedicated to ensuring they have the resources they need is doing right by them and all Californians. I urge my colleagues in the Legislature to support this critical bill that will equip our state to respond boldly in the face of any hostile actions against our immigrant communities.” 

Gonzalez said this agency would enable a more efficient, unified process for monitoring ongoing immigration issues in close collaboration with stakeholders. 

“An Immigrant and Refugee Affairs Agency will help California respond to the incoming administration’s cruel mass deportation plans and other anti-immigrant policies,” said Angelica Salas, Executive Director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). “Immigrants contribute significantly to our state and are being unfairly targeted by dangerous and prejudiced rhetoric. We applaud Senator Gonzalez for standing with California’s immigrant families and working to improve our state’s resources for our immigrant and refugee neighbors during this critical moment for human rights.”