California has always been a beacon of hope — a place where people from around the world come to work hard, raise families, and contribute to a brighter future. Yet outdated and unfair federal immigration policies continue to harm families, stifle opportunity, and keep millions of people in fear.  WE NEED 1,000,000 SIGNATURES NOW!!!

We believe California can and should lead the way by shaping its own humane immigration policies that reflect our values of compassion, inclusion, and economic fairness.

Why this matters:

Families torn apart: Every year, thousands of families in California face the risk of separation due to harsh federal enforcement practices. Children grow up in fear of losing their parents.
Dreamers in limbo: California is home to the largest population of Dreamers in the nation. These young people, raised here and educated in our schools, continue to live with uncertainty about their futures.
Essential workers left unprotected: From farmworkers who feed our state to caregivers who look after our loved ones, immigrant workers form the backbone of California’s economy. Yet many remain vulnerable, underpaid, and unprotected.

Lost economic potential: Studies show that providing a pathway to stability for immigrant communities would add billions to California’s economy, strengthening small businesses and local communities alike.
Our vision for California:
We imagine a California where:

Children never have to fear being separated from their parents.
Dreamers can study, work, and build their futures with security.
Essential workers receive fair pay, protection, and recognition.
Immigration policy reflects the values of California — not the gridlock of Washington, D.C.

Our demand:
We call on California leaders to push for greater authority to establish and implement humane immigration policies tailored to our state’s needs. We demand a commitment to protecting families, supporting Dreamers, and ensuring that immigrant workers are treated with dignity and fairness.

Take action now:
Sign this petition to show your support for California taking the lead on immigration reform. Together, we can send a clear message: California values every member of our community, and we will not wait on Washington to do the right thing.

State-Level Residency Program
California can pioneer a bold and compassionate solution: the creation of a State-Level Residency Program.

This program would allow long-term California residents, regardless of federal status, to apply for state-recognized residency. With this status, individuals could receive:

Work authorization recognized at the state level, enabling them to contribute fully to California’s workforce without fear of exploitation.
Access to essential services, such as healthcare, education, and housing support — ensuring that immigrant families can live with dignity and security.

Driver’s licenses and state identification cards, giving residents the ability to travel, work, and live without constant fear of detention.
Taxpayer contributions directly reinvested into California’s economy, strengthening local communities and reducing the reliance on federal systems that fail us.

This is not a radical idea — California already leads the nation in extending state rights and protections beyond federal limitations (such as driver’s licenses for undocumented residents, in-state tuition for Dreamers, and sanctuary laws). The State-Level Residency Program is the natural next step, building on that foundation to ensure that every Californian who calls this state home can participate in its prosperity.

By doing this, California would:

Provide stability for families who have been here for years, paying taxes and contributing to their communities.
Protect our economy by strengthening industries that rely on immigrant labor, from agriculture to technology.
Uphold our state’s values of fairness, inclusion, and opportunity for all.
This program would send a powerful message: if Washington won’t act, California will.

 

Protections for Dreamers
California is home to the largest population of Dreamers in the nation — young people who were brought here as children, raised in our schools, and who now make up an essential part of our workforce and communities. These are future doctors, engineers, teachers, entrepreneurs, and innovators. Yet despite their contributions, they continue to live with uncertainty due to the federal government’s failure to create a permanent solution.

California can change that. Our state must establish stronger protections and opportunities for Dreamers, including:

Permanent State Recognition: Offer California residency status for Dreamers who have lived, studied, or worked in the state for a minimum period. This recognition would safeguard their right to remain in California even when federal programs like DACA are under threat.
Education & Career Support: Expand scholarships, tuition assistance, and professional licensing opportunities to ensure Dreamers can complete higher education and enter their chosen professions without barriers.

Employment Security: Create state-level job protections that prevent discrimination based on federal immigration status. Dreamers should not be denied the chance to contribute to California’s economy simply because Washington is gridlocked.

Pathways to Entrepreneurship: Provide access to small-business grants, low-interest loans, and startup support for Dreamers who want to build businesses in California, creating jobs and strengthening our economy.

Community Support Networks: Fund mentorship, legal aid, and leadership programs so Dreamers can not only survive, but thrive as community leaders shaping California’s future.

Dreamers are Californians in every way but paperwork. They pledge allegiance in our classrooms, play on our sports teams, pay taxes, and serve in countless ways that strengthen this state. By giving them stability and a clear path forward, California would send a resounding message: our future belongs to those who are already helping to build it.

Fair Pay & Worker Protections
Immigrant workers form the backbone of California’s economy. They are the farmworkers who put food on our tables, the caregivers who look after our children and elders, the construction crews who build our homes, and the hospitality workers who keep our cities running. Yet too many of these workers face exploitation: unfair wages, unsafe conditions, and little to no protection when their rights are violated.

California can and must lead by guaranteeing strong protections and fair compensation for immigrant workers. This includes:

Statewide Fair Wage Standards: Enforce minimum wage and overtime protections across all industries where immigrant labor is concentrated, ensuring no worker is left behind.

Workplace Safety Oversight: Establish stronger state-funded inspections and rapid-response units to investigate unsafe or exploitative working conditions, particularly in agriculture, food processing, and construction.

Whistleblower Protections: Create anonymous reporting systems so immigrant workers can report abuse, wage theft, or unsafe conditions without fear of retaliation or deportation.

Union & Collective Bargaining Rights: Expand access to organizing and union protections for immigrant-heavy industries, giving workers a stronger voice in negotiating wages and conditions.

Portable Benefits: Develop a state system for portable benefits — healthcare, retirement savings, and sick leave — that follow workers across jobs, especially in industries with high turnover or seasonal employment.

Employer Accountability: Impose meaningful penalties on employers who exploit immigrant labor, including wage theft restitution funds paid directly to affected workers.

California’s prosperity depends on the labor of immigrants — but prosperity should never come at the cost of exploitation. By protecting immigrant workers, California not only upholds its values of dignity and fairness, it also strengthens its economy by ensuring stability, productivity, and loyalty in the workforce.

This is about basic justice: those who help build California deserve to share in its success.

Family Unity Guarantee
At the heart of California’s values is family. Yet, too often, immigrant families live under constant fear that a knock at the door, a traffic stop, or a workplace raid could tear them apart forever. Children grow up with anxiety, parents live with uncertainty, and communities suffer when families are broken by policies that do not reflect California’s priorities.

California has already taken important steps by establishing itself as a sanctuary state. But we must go further to guarantee that family unity is protected at all costs.

Our Family Unity Guarantee would include:

No Family Separation: State and local agencies must refuse to participate in any federal action that results in separating children from their parents or spouses from one another.

Stronger Sanctuary Protections: Expand sanctuary laws to ensure that no California resource — from schools to hospitals to local police — is used to assist federal immigration raids or deportations.
Safe Zones for Families: Designate schools, places of worship, healthcare centers, and community organizations as safe zones where immigrant families can seek refuge and services without fear of enforcement.

Legal Support Network: Provide state-funded legal defense for families facing deportation, ensuring no one is forced to navigate the system alone or without representation.

Path to Reunification: Establish programs to reunite families who have been separated, offering state-based solutions to bring loved ones back together whenever possible.

Protection for U.S.-Born Children: Safeguard the rights of children born in California, ensuring they are never forced into foster care or family displacement due to the deportation of their parents.
Family unity is not just a political issue — it is a moral one. Strong families mean strong communities, and California must stand firm in defending the right of every family to stay together.

By enacting a Family Unity Guarantee, California would declare to the nation and the world: no family should ever be torn apart simply because Washington failed to act.

Local Investment in Immigrant Communities
Immigrant families don’t just contribute to California — they help define it. From the Central Valley to Los Angeles, from Silicon Valley to San Diego, immigrant communities drive innovation, strengthen local economies, and enrich California’s culture. Yet many families face barriers to opportunity, including lack of access to legal services, language resources, small-business support, and affordable housing.

If California wants to truly lead on humane immigration reform, we must invest directly in the communities where immigrants live and work. That means building the infrastructure of support, opportunity, and empowerment at the local level.

Our plan for local investment includes:

Community Resource Centers: Expand funding for local centers that provide legal aid, translation services, healthcare navigation, and housing support, ensuring families have trusted, accessible help close to home.

Small-Business & Entrepreneur Support: Launch state-backed grant and microloan programs to help immigrant entrepreneurs start and grow businesses, creating jobs and revitalizing local economies.

Education & Workforce Training: Invest in job training, English-language programs, and skill certifications so immigrant workers can transition into higher-paying, stable careers.

Youth Programs & Mentorship: Provide after-school programs, scholarships, and mentorship initiatives for immigrant youth, giving the next generation the tools to thrive and become leaders in California.

Health & Wellness Access: Fund culturally competent healthcare and mental health services in immigrant communities, ensuring that families have the care they need without stigma or barriers.

Civic Engagement: Support programs that encourage civic participation, voter education (for those eligible), and community leadership development so immigrant voices are fully represented in local and state decision-making.
This isn’t charity — it’s an investment. Every dollar California puts into immigrant communities comes back many times over in the form of stronger businesses, safer neighborhoods, better schools, and a more resilient state economy.

By choosing to invest in immigrant communities, California demonstrates what we have always known: our state’s diversity is not a challenge to overcome, but a strength to build upon.

After 1M Signatures: Your Action Plan
Week 0–2

Certify & package the petition: export verified signers (by ZIP), segment by district, and prepare a 2-page executive brief + signers heatmap.
Build the “1000 Leaders” coalition: unions, faith, business, immigrant orgs, student groups, city mayors—secure co-sign letters.
Press moment: Capitol steps event announcing the mandate; deliver petition boxes to the Governor, Senate President pro Tem, Assembly Speaker, AG.
Name bill champions: line up primary authors and coauthors in both houses; pre-file bill language.
Days 15–45
5) Introduce a bill package (“California Immigration Leadership Act”): four coordinated bills + a budget ask (details below).
6) Committee pathway mapped: Judiciary, Public Safety, Labor, Budget. Pre-meetings with chairs; secure first hearing dates.
7) Budget trailer bill: submit fiscal request in time for May Revise/next budget cycle.
8) District pressure: organize in-district meetings with signers; patch-through calls to legislators; op-eds from local leaders.

Days 45–180
9) Pilot programs start (those that don’t require federal waivers): legal defense expansion, worker protection strike teams, safe-zone guidance, community centers.
10) Federal track in parallel: push DHS/White House for waivers/compacts; congressional resolution from CA delegation.

 
What We Want State Officials To Do (Step-by-Step)
A) Governor (Executive Actions)
Executive Order – Immigrant Stability Task Force (90 days to deliver)

Chairs: Gov’s Legal Affairs + Labor & Workforce Agency + HHS.
Mandate: draft the California Immigration Leadership Act (CILA) package; list legal guardrails to avoid federal preemption.
Budget Proposal (next fiscal year) with four line items:

One California–style statewide legal defense expansion.
Community Resource Centers grants (county allocations).
Labor Enforcement Blitz for wage theft & safety (Cal/OSHA + Labor Commissioner).
Dreamer Education & Licensing Fund (scholarships; board guidance).
Attorney General guidance request: updated model policies on data sharing limits, safe-zones (schools/clinics/courts), and non-cooperation with civil immigration enforcement except as required by law.
Federal Waiver/Compact Ask: formally petition DHS for a state-sponsored visa pilot (California-sponsored workers/families capped annually), plus expanded parole-in-place categories for long-term residents.
B) Legislature (Statutes)
Pass a four-bill package (plus a budget trailer bill):

Dreamer Opportunity & Licensing Act

Guarantees in-state tuition, state aid, and universal professional licensing eligibility where not federally barred.
Bars employment discrimination on the basis of federal status where state law can operate (public benefits, internships, state contracts).
Worker Dignity & Enforcement Act

Funds rapid-response labor strike teams, whistleblower protections, and wage theft restitution fund.
Requires portable benefits pilots in high-turnover industries (care, ag, hospitality) via state-administered accounts.
Family Unity & Safe-Zone Act

Codifies no family separation cooperation by state/local entities; strengthens safe-zone rules (schools, hospitals, courts).
Establishes state-funded deportation defense for qualifying families and reunification assistance.
California Residency ID & Access Act

Creates a state residency ID (not federal status) for eligibility screening across state programs (health, housing, education), fraud protections, data privacy, and non-sharing rules.
Directs agencies to align eligibility with the ID where legally permissible.
Budget Trailer Bill

Appropriates funds for all four acts; sets reporting KPIs; sunsets + renewal based on outcomes.
Important legal guardrail: The state cannot confer federal immigration status or authorize private-sector employment contrary to federal I-9 rules. The package is designed to expand state-level access, protections, funding, and guidance while pursuing federal waivers for any employment-related pilots.
C) Attorney General
Issue statewide guidance to law enforcement, schools, and health systems on safe-zone protocols and limited data sharing.
Create an Immigrant Rights Enforcement Unit to pursue wage theft, retaliation, and civil rights violations.
Coordinate impact litigation to defend the package from preemption challenges.
D) State Agencies (Implementation)
Labor & Workforce / Cal/OSHA: stand up strike teams; quarterly public dashboards on enforcement actions and recovered wages.
HHS / Covered CA / DHCS: align program eligibility with the new state residency ID; expand outreach & navigators.
DMV: integrate residency ID where applicable; privacy safeguards.
Professional Licensing Boards: remove unnecessary barriers; publish uniform eligibility rules.
Department of Education & CSU/UC/CCC: expand Dreamer scholarships; campus legal clinics; internship pipelines.
GO-Biz: microgrants/loans for immigrant entrepreneurs; technical assistance hubs.
 
Parallel “Federal Ask” (What CA Officials Should Request From DC)
California-Sponsored Visa Pilot (requires federal approval): limited annual quota for state-nominated workers/families tied to labor needs.
Parole-in-Place Expansion for long-term CA residents with family/community ties.
Work Authorization Expedite for state-funded humanitarian and critical workforce categories.
Data-Sharing Reforms to protect safe-zone integrity.
 
Timeline & Checkpoints
0–30 days: EO signed; Task Force formed; bill authors announced; budget request filed; petition delivered.
30–90 days: Bill language public; committee hearings begin; AG guidance issued; enforcement blitz launches; community center RFPs open.
90–180 days: Floor votes; budget passage; pilots live (legal defense, labor enforcement, centers, scholarships).
6–12 months: First KPI report to Legislature and LAO; amend/expand based on data; federal waiver decision point.
Core KPIs: # families served by legal defense; wage theft dollars recovered; workplace injuries reduced; Dreamer graduation/licensure rates; # immigrants served at centers; small-business grants issued.

 
If the Legislature Stalls (Backup Plan)
Citizen Initiative: file title/summary for the most state-law-safe portions (Dreamer, Worker Protections, Family Unity, Centers, Residency ID for state programs).
Local Ordinance Wave: pass mirror policies in top 20 cities/counties to sustain pressure.
Ballot Advisory Measure: statewide vote signaling support for a federal compact/waiver.
 
What You Should Prepare Now
Draft bill memos + one-pagers for each act, with fiscal notes.
Legal memo on preemption guardrails (what’s clearly state authority vs. federal).
District-level packets for lawmakers (signer counts, local org endorsements, quotes).
Press kit: factsheet, leader quotes, family stories, visuals.
Coalition calendar: lobby days, town halls, committee hearing turnout.
 
Bottom line: 1,000,000 signatures is our mandate. Let's use it to trigger an executive order, a four-bill legislative package with a funded budget, immediate pilots within clear state authority, and a parallel federal waiver push. This keeps everything lawful, fast, and winnable—while delivering real protection and opportunity for immigrant families in California.

California has always stood at the forefront of change — bold when others hesitate, compassionate when others turn away, and visionary when others cling to the past. Immigration is not just a federal issue; it is a California issue. It is about our families, our communities, and our future.

If Washington will not act, then we must. By protecting Dreamers, defending families, ensuring fair wages, and investing in immigrant communities, California can set a new standard for humane and just immigration policy.

But this cannot happen without you. Your voice, your signature, your stand makes the difference between silence and action. Together, we can demand that our leaders recognize the dignity and humanity of every Californian, regardless of where they were born.

Sign this petition today and join thousands of others in declaring: California will lead. California will protect families. California will act.