(Headline USA) California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is seen by many as a potential Democrat candidate in the 2024 presidential election, came out against President Joe Biden’s immigration policies this week, calling them a failure.
Newsom said Biden’s plan to lift the Trump-era Title 42 policy, which allows border officials to send illegal immigrants back to Mexico if they fail to meet asylum requirements, could “break” his state.
“The fact is, what we’ve got right now is not working and is about to break in a post-42 world unless we take some responsibility and ownership,” Newsom told ABC News.
The Democrat said he is “trying to do my best here,” but accused the Biden administration of sending “more and more” migrants to California because the state is “taking care of folks.”
“The more we do, the burden is placed disproportionate on us,” he said. “We’re already at capacity at nine of our sites. We can’t continue to fund all of these sites because of the budgetary pressures now being placed on this state and the offsetting issues that I have to address.… The reality is, unless we’re doing what we’re doing, people will end up on the streets.”
Newsom’s comments come just days after he traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border. The trip was seen as a rebuke to Biden, who a week earlier had written off a trip to the border as unnecessary because he had “more important things going on.”
The California governor has downplayed his presidential ambitions, saying he has “sub-zero interest” in a run for the White House, especially if Biden plans to run again.
“I’m all in; put me in, coach,” he said to Biden last month. “We have your back.”
