A coalition of six Republican lawmakers from California is pressing President Donald Trump to shift the nation’s immigration priorities, urging a stronger focus on deporting criminal illegal immigrants while also proposing a pathway to legal status for long-standing illegal residents.
The GOP legislators say current federal enforcement strategies are generating unnecessary fear in workplaces and harming employees with legal immigration status.
In a letter sent to the president, they asked for restraint from sweeping ICE raids and called for more targeted actions against individuals with serious criminal convictions.
“We urge you to direct ICE and DHS to focus their enforcement operations on criminal immigrants, and when possible to avoid the kinds of sweeping raids that instill fear and disrupt the workplace,” they wrote.
At the same time, the lawmakers are pushing for broader immigration reforms to support industries struggling with labor shortages.
They advocated expanding the H-2A and H-2B visa programs—which authorize temporary foreign workers in agriculture and other sectors—arguing that outdated caps are stifling economic growth.
According to the American Farm Bureau, roughly 384,900 H-2A visas were issued recently, while the H-2B program remains capped at just 66,000 annually.
The lawmakers say the labor crisis in California underscores the need for reform.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded 659,000 unfilled positions in the state as of March 2025.
Meanwhile, California’s May unemployment rate stood at 5.3 percent, leaving more than a million residents out of work.
They argue that immigration modernization could help bridge this gap by legally supporting industries in need of workers.
Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones (R-San Diego), who led the appeal, has also introduced legislation that would enhance cooperation between state prisons and federal immigration authorities.
His bill would have required California jails to notify ICE of the release dates of inmates convicted of serious or violent felonies, including “wobblers”—offenses chargeable as either misdemeanors or felonies.
That measure failed in committee due to state resistance to increased ICE collaboration, Just the News reports.
Jones and his colleagues also promoted the idea of granting legal status to non-criminal illegal immigrants who have deep roots in their communities.
Referencing the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act signed by President Ronald Reagan, which legalized nearly 3 million illegal immigrants, they argued that it’s time for another bold move.
“The last President to successfully tackle this issue was Ronald Reagan nearly 40 years ago, and it is long past time to modernize our immigration policies,” they wrote. “America needs a system that reflects both compassion and lawfulness — one that upholds sovereignty while recognizing the reality on the ground.”
The proposal outlines a three-part immigration strategy: direct ICE to prioritize criminals, create legal status pathways for illegal immigrants with longstanding ties and reform the visa system to address ongoing labor shortages.
Alongside Jones, the letter was signed by Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa-Bogh (R-Yucaipa) and Assemblymembers Heath Flora (R-Ripon), Diane Dixon (R-Newport Beach) and Laurie Davies (R-Laguna Niguel).
The effort reflects a coordinated Republican push to influence immigration policy from within one of the nation’s most immigrant-heavy states.
