The Drain 021 - Californians naming and shaming ICE agents; how state Dems in Congress are handling Israel-Iran; CA budget watch updates

As Governor Gavin Newsom sues to get President Donald Trump's National Guard troops and Marines out of Los Angeles, Californians are taking things into their own hands.

Throughout the state, folks are setting up rapid response networks to stop ICE from detaining their neighbors, or to get legal representation for ICE detainees (find a network near you here: https://www.ccijustice.org/carrn). Sacramento boasts likely the most robust operation per capita, with NorCal Resist's Migra Watch working with 600 community volunteers committed to checking on reports of fascist ICE activity, and 400 volunteers helping undocumented residents to safely get to work, run errands, and attend immigration court hearings.

Even some Democratic politicians are starting to help the effort. Last week, NCR started sending volunteers to monitor ICE activity at downtown Sacramento's federal immigration court. (ICE was there, terrorizing people and spiriting folks away after their meetings). After the building inexplicably shut down in order to deter the NCR volunteers, Assemblymember Maggy Krell (D–Sacramento) FOIA'd the federal government for details on its reasoning.

Meanwhile, members Scott Wiener (D–San Francisco) and Jesse Arreguín (D–Berkeley) introduced legislation to bar ICE agents from wearing masks to shield their identities while terrorizing Californians.

We support this. And, once the legislation is passed, we support anyone willing to put the work in to document and identify the unmasked fascists, as the volunteers over at ICE List are starting to do.

We also take a moment to discuss updates on the California budget. The legislature has just sent its first counter-offer to Governor Newsom's severely slashed 2025-26 proposal, hoping to save a number of important programs meant to support undocumented and impoverished residents. Newsom and the legislature have until July 1 to finalize the state budget.

Speaking of which, you may remember that Trump threatened to cut federal funding to California. In response, Newsom said that, since the Golden State puts $82 billion more into the federal government each year than we get in return, we may as well not pay the federal government and benefit our own residents.

Is this a small step toward a sovereign California? We'll see. Our friends at the Independent California Institute currently have a poll out checking residents' temperature on the topic.

Finally (but actually at the top of the show), we discuss Israel's attempts to pull the United States into a war with Iran, and how Representative Ro Khanna appears to be the only legislator from our state making any pushback, despite Americans rejecting our involvement in a war by a margin of 16-60.

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