Santa Cruz, a sanctuary city since the 1980s, has traditionally recommitted to the policy when deportation rhetoric from the White House has ticked up. The city has so far kept quiet under the new Trump administration – and in mid-January held sanctuary city discussions behind closed doors.
The Trump presidency and Santa Cruz County
News and opinion coverage of reaction in Santa Cruz County to the election of Donald Trump to a second term as president, plus news from around California via Lookout’s content partners.
Posted inLatest News
Trump is bound for L.A. — threatening to withhold fire aid and keeping Newsom out of the loop
The Trump administration apparently opted not to coordinate at all with Gov. Gavin Newsom while planning the president’s planned Friday visit to fire-ravaged Los Angeles. Just how awkward will this be?
Posted inLatest News
Trump’s order won’t halt California’s offshore wind leases. But will it derail the industry?
President Donald Trump’s order has no immediate effect on offshore wind leases already authorized, including two large areas off California’s coast. But it sends a current of uncertainty through the fledgling renewable energy industry, which relies on federal and state support.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
An approach to immigration, not Trump’s
UC Santa Cruz history professor Grace Peña Delgado is writing a chronicle of the U.S.-Mexico border and in the summer, she and Lookout photographer Kevin Painchaud spent time documenting stories at one Arizona spot along the border, a place locals call the “End-of-the-wall,” because it’s where 34 miles of steel columns dividing the land abruptly end. Building barriers won’t stop immigration, she writes: “Robust climate action, economic investment in vulnerable areas and more expansive legal pathways for asylum-seekers offer a more sustainable path than building walls that funnel families into even deadlier routes.”
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Trump takes step to overhaul Delta water deliveries to farms, cities
President Donald Trump is aiming to override new Biden-Newsom water delivery rules that have widespread support among Southern California cities and some Central Valley farmers.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Trump is back – and you would be surprised how many Santa Cruzans support his agenda
Ben Lomond resident, businessman and local political activist Tom Decker celebrated Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday. In the fall, Decker wore a Donald Trump hat for two months around Santa Cruz County, hoping to engage in conversations about policy. He expected opposition, but mostly he found tacit support. Now that Trump is the 47th president, Decker outlines three Trump policies he supports – on immigration, taxes and oil – and says we should all feel good about our future.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
We need comfort, not conflict, amid L.A. fires: Here’s a lesson in nonviolent communication for Trump, Musk and more
Santa Cruz therapist Lisa Herendeen is stunned by the harsh rhetoric and blame game circling the Los Angeles fires. What we need is empathy, she writes, and leaders who understand the merits of nonviolent communication. She just finished a training on this and she applies nonviolent communication skills to the political moment – and to the angry language she hears coming from Donald Trump, Elon Musk and others. Where are our leaders, she wonders. She longs for public rhetoric that raises us all up. She is even nostalgic for the Terminator.
Posted inWatsonville / Pajaro
Watsonville police chief focuses on reassuring immigrant community ahead of Trump’s second term
At Tuesday’s city council meeting, Watsonville Police Chief Jorge Zamora unveiled measures his department is putting in place to inform and protect the immigrant community as President-elect Donald Trump is set to begin his second term.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
California withdraws diesel truck ban, other clean-air rules as Trump prepares to take office
Because Donald Trump’s incoming administration is unlikely to approve them, California has no choice but to abandon its groundbreaking rules for zero-emission trucks and cleaner locomotives.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
L.A. fires underscore how much California has to lose if Trump withholds disaster aid
The federal government typically covers 75% of rebuilding costs after a major disaster. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to withhold firefighting money from California.
