Brown Calls Californians Who Support Limited Immigration (and Favor Water Preservation) ‘Troglodytes’

I left California in 2008, bound for Pittsburgh, Pa. I’m regularly in touch with friends and family who have one thing on their minds: How much longer before California runs out of water? One friend, motivated by acute water shortages, moved from parched Lake of the Woods, which shares its precious little ground water with other nearby districts, to Morro Bay.

Last year, voters approved a $7.5 billion water bond to more effectively store, clean and deliver water. Part of the proceeds will also be allocated to restoring ecosystems. On March 27, Governor Jerry Brown signed a $1.1 billion emergency drought relief bill which brought the total of mostly cosmetic legislation to $8.6 billion within the last four months.

California will never resolve its water crisis until it admits to and acts on its overpopulation problem. Lawns may be out of vogue, replaced by rock gardens and cacti, but that won’t mean much in the face of continued high population. Without changes in federal immigration policy, projections show that U.S. population will increase by about 100 million people by 2050, the equivalent of two and a half Californias. Historically, more immigrants settle in California than any other state.

Brown calls concerned Californians troglodytes.

A responsible governor would join the 26 other state governors and attorneys general in the lawsuit to block President Obama’s executive action amnesty. If implemented, Obama’s amnesty would incentivize more immigrants to unlawfully enter the U.S. Instead, when Brown recently spoke to White House reporters, he called Californians who want to restrict immigration to help the state live within its limits “at best, troglodyte and at worst, anti-Christian.”

Name calling isn’t a substitute for leadership, especially as the water crisis mounts. Brown, of course, knows that more people means more water consumption, and that more consumption exacerbates the water shortage. But Brown doesn’t have the political will to defy his base and act in Californians’ best interests.

Please go to the CAPS Action Alert page here to sign the Citizens’ Decree on Immigration Reduction.