Gavin Newsom: Being ‘Asylum State’ Is What Makes CA ‘Great’

California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom claimed on Tuesday evening in San Jose that being an asylum state is what makes the Golden State great.

“We’re a state of asylum,” Newsom proudly declared, pointing out that California has accepted 112,000 refugees in the last 15 years and that is “what makes California great.”

Newsom made his remarks during the California gubernatorial debate a week after a migrant caravan arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border seeking asylum. Caravan organizers have vowed to get asylum for all of the migrants, most of whom are from Central America.

Other Democrats running for governor also supported the migrants seeking asylum.

“If they’re fleeing violence they should be able to seek asylum,” former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said.

Democrat Delaine Eastin said that “Central Americans fleeing violence should be welcomed into the border.”

“We have all descended from immigrants,” she said.

Republican candidate Travis Allen vowed to reverse the “illegal sanctuary state law” via a special election and blasted the “open-border policy” pushed by California Democrats like Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

John Cox, the other GOP candidate, also talked about reversing the state’s sanctuary laws and the need for a border wall.

Newsom, again defending the state’s sanctuary laws, vowed to “push back against John Cox, Travis Allen, and Trumpism.”