Inside California Politics: July 19, 2025

(INSIDE CALIFORNIA POLITICS) — San Diego Congressman Mike Levin joined Inside California Politics this week to talk about immigration enforcement in his community and the bipartisan Dignity Act. Levin says the bill provides a pathway to citizenship for hard-working immigrants who remain fearful amid President Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort.

Migrants would need to meet the following criteria to be qualified for “dignity” status:

• They must have lived in the U.S. for than five years
• They cannot have a criminal record
• Must be working and paying taxes
• If approved, a migrant would pay a $7,000 fine over a seven-year period, and they must buy their own health insurance, with no access to federal aid programs

Levin criticized the Joe Biden administration for allowing millions of undocumented immigrants to cross over the border during his term, but said the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction.

“The Trump administration with Stephen Miller and Tom Homan and the rest of them are now separating families and really doing things that are for me, antithetical to American values,” Levin said. “At the same time, the bill reinforces the need to have security at both our southern border and at the maritime border as well.”

Levin also responded to Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent threats about potentially redistricting California to carve out more Democratic seats. Newsom floated the idea as a way to play “hardball politics” as Texas considers redrawing its maps. Levin says California has three options.

“One is to have nationwide independent redistricting. The other is to have no independent redistricting, just have it all be gerrymandered all around the country. And then the other is for Democrats to unilaterally disarm and allow for Republicans in the states that they control, the legislatures that they control, to gerrymander,” Levin said. “And the reality is that we cannot unilaterally disarm anymore. If Texas moves forward and actually does what they are threatening to do and draws five new Republican seats, California will be left with no choice in my view, but to do the same.”

Matt Rexroad and Paul Mitchell also joined the show to discuss potential redistricting in California.