A number of Democratic governors have promised to resist federal imposition after Donald Trump returns to the Oval Office.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signaled his readiness “to fight” and to “Trump-proof” the state’s “values and fundamental laws", claiming that the freedoms they “hold dear” in California “are under attack”, which is why they “won’t sit idle.”
Likewise, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey vowed she would “absolutely not” assist the future Trump administration in its pledge to implement mass deportation plans.
She was echoed by her colleague in New Jersey, Phil Murphy, who insisted that mass deportations are “contrary to our values, we will fight to the death.”
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker pledged that if “you come for my people, you come through me,” while in New York, Governor Kathy Hochul has convened a team of experts to develop strategies to protect her state from policy threats that could emanate from the Trump team.
They spoke as leaders of the crucial swing states, which are part of the “blue wall”, including Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin, brace for power transition following Kamala Harris’ defeat.
Trump has meanwhile lashed out at the California governor, insisting that Newsom “is trying to kill” the Golden State and “using the term ‘Trump-Proof’ as a way of stopping all of the great things that can be done.”
This came after the president-elect underscored in an interview with NBC that his campaign pledge to expel an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants is “not a question of a price tag.”
“Really, we have no choice. When people have killed and murdered, when drug lords have destroyed countries, and now they’re going to go back to those countries because they’re not staying here,” Trump stressed.