New Green Card Rules Confuse Californians

The Trump administration’s conflicting statements about new legal immigration rules are confusing employers and inciting fear among green card holderswrites Wendy Fry of CalMatters.

In May, the US Department of Homeland Security sent out a memo initially instructing most temporary visa holders living in the US to return to their home countries to wait for their green cards. The requirement goes against a long-standing federal policy allowing immigrants to stay in the US while waiting for green cards.

Each year, more than half a million people already in the U.S. apply for permanent residency through a process called adjustment of status. In California, 112,100 people received green cards in 2023, or nearly one in five issued in the US that year.

Employers, especially technology companies, said the new mandate could disrupt operations and cause talent to leave. Relatives of US citizens, mixed-status families and international students will also be most affected by the new policy.

After a public backlash, the Trump administration retracted the memo, saying it was not general policy. But he also failed to provide more details, such as how the new policy would be implemented, who would have to comply and whether it would affect pending green card applicants or just new ones.

In a written statement to CalMatters, the Department of Homeland Security said the policy “will have no discernible impact on highly qualified applicants and qualified professionals who have complied with the law.”

But among immigrants and those hoping to get green cards, confusion is already rife, said Patrick Kolasinski, an immigration attorney based in Modesto.

• Kolasinski: “Trying to change that policy the way they did is completely illegal. … There’s no more rule of law. There’s no more predictability. It’s completely the Wild West, and it’s been that way for a year and a half.”

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The race in which there will be two candidates the November gubernatorial vote is still too close to call. Republican Steve Hilton remained in the lead as of Wednesday, followed by Democrats Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer. We will be sure to let you know as soon as we know the result.

But a local race that’s on the verge of ending could be just the beginning for a tense election in November in a district known for electoral conflicts and conspiracies, CalMatters’ Ryan Sabalow reports.

Shasta County voters are poised to oust their registrar of voters, Clint Curtis, a self-proclaimed “advocate for election integrity.” Shortly after being appointed to the role last year, Curtis accused his predecessors of stuffing ballots to sabotage the Republican Party (even though the district reliably votes Republican) and fired then-elections official Joanna Franscott.

Now the voters seem to be on their way to replacing Curtis with Francis. Since there are only two candidates in this race, there is no runoff and Francescut will win the seat outright.

But Curtis’ impending voter ouster isn’t exactly a referendum on his views: An initiative he’s promoting that would require manual ballot counts, in-person voting and voter ID is also in the running. If passed, it would likely trigger a legal battle with the state, which in 2024 passed a law banning the local voter ID requirement. Even if Curtis loses, he too will be in office until Jan. 1.

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California’s two most powerful construction workers unions are clashing over a wage-related proposal that, depending on who you ask, would raising or lowering workers’ wagesCalMatters’ Ben Christopher reports.

The bill would benefit townhouse developers by removing regulatory barriers to the construction of these high-rise homes. But it would also require them to pay their workers at least $28 an hour, or about $11 more than the statewide minimum hourly wage. California carpenters unions support new wage standard.

But the State Building and Construction Board opposes it, arguing that setting a wage floor would reduce “prevailing wages.” These wages are state or federally set wages that vary by occupation and location and are generally comparable to union wages. The proposed minimum wage will be well below what most members of the trade already make. The current federal prevailing wage required for a roofer in Sacramento, for example, is $46.73 an hour plus benefits.

During debate earlier this month, the bill’s author, Democratic Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva of La Palma, said the measure “does not undercut the prevailing wage.” But the trade council remains skeptical.

• Chris Hannantrade council president: “When you start a trend of making a minimum wage, then that becomes the new solution.”

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California is home to the most Native Americans of any state, but has only one confirmed tribal college and little state funding. Now, two bills in the state Senate — as well as the recent accreditation of California Indian Nations College in Palm Desert — aim to help tribal education in California. Read more by Ella Carter-Klauschie of CalMatters’ College Journalism Network.