Dean Johnson Comments for Media on Immigrants and the Trump Administration

Dean Kevin R. Johnson commented for media including the San Francisco Chronicle, Bloomberg Law Brief, Vox, the Sacramento Bee, and La Opinion on the changes that may be in store for immigrant communities under the administration of president-elect Donald Trump. 

The changes could be profound, Dean Johnson told the Chronicle, as Trump could do away with President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and change the priorities of immigration authorities to deport any noncitizen arrestees.

In a Sacramento Bee article describing vows by mayor-elect Darrell Steinberg ’84 that Sacramento will continue to operate as a “sanctuary city” for undocumented immigrants, Dean Johnson said that there will be “a tension” between states and the federal government.

“In some ways, the tide has turned,” he said. “Before, it was states punishing immigrants. Now it’s states protecting immigrants ... We [in California] have a series of laws that tend to be more pro-immigrant than the Trump administration would like.”

Kevin R. Johnson is Dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.