State Sen. Christopher Cabaldon (D-CA) participated in a heated debate on the floor of the California State Senate where he attempted to make the case that the Golden State would lose its democracy if 1.5 million illegal aliens were deported and thus excluded from being counted as part of future census data that could be used for redistricting purposes.
Many conservatives astutely pointed out that this is yet another example of left-wing politicians treating illegal immigrants as political pawns instead of human beings. Cabaldon’s comments came as talks concerning California’s response to the redistricting strategies of Texas got intense. The Lone Star State passed their new maps just before the debate on the California State Senate floor.
“If your [illegal immigrant] cousin is kidnapped off the street…If the census that we’re relying on for the Commission’s next stab at redistricting doesn’t include 1.5 million [illegal immigrants in California]…We have no democracy left,” Cabaldon went on to say during a hearing called “Members of California Senate Hold Hearing on Redistricting Efforts in Response to Texas.”
The senator continued by spinning a narrative that painted the idea of sending illegal aliens back to their country of origin and thus not allowing them to be counted as part of a future census as a critical threat to freedom and democracy, urging the state to take preemptive action. “We can do something. We know what is coming because it’s in Project 2025. We must take action if we’re going to save not just democracy, but the Commission itself in independent redistricting.”
According to a report from The Post Millennial, the California Democratic lawmaker then argued that efforts to redistrict should not be something the residents of the state get to decide, but should be decided by legislators. Conservatives pointed out the hypocrisy of claiming that deportations are a threat to democracy while simultaneously taking democracy away from American citizens by not allowing them to have a say in redistricting.
“The voters elected us to be the democracy, and we’ve heard that today that the most democratic thing would be not to ask the voters, but to ask the 14 people on the Commission to have some hearings and they decide what the map should be based on testimony,” Cabaldon stated. The conversation strated after Texas approved new maps that could potentially remove up to 10 Democratic districts, enabling Republicans to have a greater hold on the House of Representatives.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) was highly supportive of the effort, which resulted in Democrats in the state accusing him of gerrymandering. It was these accusations that sparked California Democrats to push back by trying to do a bit of redistricting on their own in order to make up for the lost districts in Texas, enabling their party to oppose Republican control of the House.
"*" indicates required fields
“You can either change your policies, you can defend your policies, but one option that is not before us in a democracy is that you can change your voters, that you can change the rules. And so fighting back is absolutely essential,” Sen. Cabaldon went on to say during his speech on the state Senate floor as he continued his rant against deportation.
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video