The Impact of Trump’s Executive Orders on California

In the early hours of his second term, President Donald Trump enacted an unprecedented number of executive orders that could significantly influence California, with implications seen by both supporters and detractors in areas like gender policy, border security, and more.

“[W]e are witnessing fires continue to devastate areas from weeks prior without even a semblance of defense,” Trump stated. “They are consuming homes and communities, impacting even some of the most affluent and influential individuals in our nation, some of whom are present here today.”

He acknowledged the difficulties faced by countless individuals who have lost their homes, assuring that assistance is forthcoming.

“No one is able to address it,” Trump stated. “That is going to change.”

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Trump criticized the state’s water management strategies for worsening fire risks.

“I believe they are politically finished. What they have executed has ruined the city,” he remarked.

The president suggested that water from the Pacific Northwest, which currently runs into the ocean, should be redirected to serve California.

“Los Angeles has significant water resources, all they need to do is turn the valve,” Trump asserted. “We will be issuing an executive order instructing them to immediately release that water through California.”

A spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office informed The Epoch Times via email on Jan. 23 that there is no water scarcity in Southern California, disputing the claim that merely turning a valve could help manage fire hazards in the state.

“My administration’s strategy would have enabled vast amounts of water from snowmelt and rainwater in Northern California rivers for beneficial use in the Central Valley and Southern California,” Trump elaborated. “This catastrophic halt was supposedly in the name of protecting the delta smelt and other fish species.”

The president’s directive reinterprets the 14th Amendment to prevent citizenship for individuals whose parents were not citizens or lawful permanent residents at the time of birth.

The Secretary of Defense has been instructed to deploy military and National Guard resources to the border.

Further orders require agencies to complete the border wall’s construction and support air missions.

Some lawmakers within the state’s Democratic Party have pushed back against the president’s directives.

“The cartels have launched a violent and terror-filled campaign throughout the Western Hemisphere that has not only destabilized countries crucial to our national interests but also flooded the United States with dangerous drugs, violent offenders, and brutal gangs,” the order states. “The cartels effectively control, through a campaign of assassination, terror, rape, and brute strength nearly all illegal traffic across the southern U.S. border.”

These cartels have amassed such power in Mexico that they “function as quasi-governmental entities,” the order notes.

“The activities of the cartels jeopardize the safety of the American populace, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere,” Trump wrote. “Their operations, along with their encroachments into the physical territory of the United States, present an unacceptable national security threat.”

In response, he declared a state of emergency and ordered U.S. agencies “to ensure the total eradication of these organizations’ presence in the United States and their ability to pose threats through their extraterritorial command-and-control frameworks.”

Some California law enforcement officials indicated that the administration’s stance could provide the necessary support to tackle the cartel challenges in certain regions.

“I believe it will assist in acquiring federal support against drug trafficking organizations,” Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall expressed to The Epoch Times. “However, federal involvement often fluctuates, and they don’t always engage in problems that require their attention.”

Mitigating the harms caused by cartels, particularly the distribution of fentanyl, is a priority for the new administration.

“The pressing question will be where they will return to work,” noted Harry Klaff, U.S. president of real estate services firm Avison Young.

According to Klaff, the office vacancy rates remain considerably higher than pre-pandemic levels due to remote working among government employees.

The reduction in office attendance has implications for leasing rates, property valuations, and local economies, he added.

If the Trump administration aggressively cancels leases for underutilized properties, the repercussions may ripple across the industry, experts warn.

“It could affect the market, but the effects might be more localized to D.C.,” Klaff suggested.

“Throughout the nation, ideologues denying the biological reality of sex have been increasingly employing legal and socially coercive measures to allow men to self-identify as women and access single-sex spaces and activities reserved for women, from domestic abuse shelters to workplace restrooms,” the order articulates. “This is erroneous.”

The mandate asserts that schools allowing biological males to participate in women’s sports could risk losing Title IX funding, contending that such denials of “biological reality” undermine women’s “dignity, safety, and well-being.”

“Consequently, my administration will defend women’s rights and honor freedom of conscience by implementing clear and factual language and policies that acknowledge that women are biologically female, and men are biologically male,” Trump stated. “These sexes are immutable and grounded in fundamental, incontrovertible reality.”

Sen. Wiener, an openly gay lawmaker advocating for transgender rights, criticized the order.

Nevertheless, Newsom has consistently expressed his readiness to collaborate with the Trump administration where feasible.