{"id":296375,"date":"2026-05-02T08:39:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T08:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/296375\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T08:39:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T08:39:22","slug":"california-congressional-district-40-election-voter-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/296375\/","title":{"rendered":"California Congressional District 40 election voter guide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>p]:text-cms-story-body-color-text clearfix&#8221;&gt; <\/p>\n<p>Calvert for years has advocated for immigration reform, which he says must begin with controlling the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent people from entering illegally.<\/p>\n<p>In 1996, he authored legislation that later became the E-Verify program, a tool used by employers to check the immigration status of newly hired employees. In 2023, he introduced legislation that would expand the use of the program. The bill, the Legal Workforce Act, was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary and the House committees on Ways and Means and Education and Workforce last year.<\/p>\n<p>Calvert told The Times he favors passing legislation that guarantees a secure border and \u201cends the job magnet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI support a system that rewards those who follow the rules and wait their turn, not one that gives a fast pass or grants amnesty to those who cut in line,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Calvert voted in favor of the <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/world-nation\/story\/2025-01-20\/senate-passes-immigrant-detention-bill-that-could-be-the-first-measure-trump-signs-into-law\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Laken Riley Act<\/a>, which allowed the Department of Homeland Security to detain noncitizens who have been arrested for burglary, theft, larceny or shoplifting. Kim also voted in favor of the legislation.<\/p>\n<p>Kim has identified border security as a key issue in her campaign. She voted in favor of the <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/newsletter\/2025-07-06\/20250706-sunday-essential-california-trumps-big-beautiful-bill-passed-what-does-that-mean\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">One Big Beautiful Bill Act<\/a>, which allocated $46.5 billion for border wall construction and additional funds for hiring Border Patrol agents. Calvert also voted in favor of the bill.<\/p>\n<p>On her campaign website, Kim states that former President Biden \u201copened our border and purposely created a crisis that overwhelmed law enforcement and allowed deadly fentanyl to flood into our country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s simple: enforce our laws, secure the border, no amnesty and put American safety first,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Varet supports the <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/politics\/la-pol-ca-dreamers-california-daca-20170917-story.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">DREAM Act<\/a>, which if passed would offer a path to legal status and citizenship for thousands of DACA recipients \u2014 undocumented people who were brought to the U.S. as children and given federal protections \u2014 and other undocumented minors, according to her campaign website. She also is in favor of legislation that would reduce green card backlogs, establishes a path to citizenship for people who have been in the country for a certain number of years, for people who have passed a background check and those who have worked in the agricultural industry.<\/p>\n<p>She wrote that \u201cundocumented immigrants already living in the U.S. and their children cannot and should not be removed other than for legitimate criminal justice or immigration law violation convictions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She supports providing a path to amnesty and providing funds to boost the number of immigration judges, consular officers and naturalization officers.<\/p>\n<p>Linh, who came to the United States as a refugee from Vietnam as a young child, told The Times she supports \u201csecure, orderly and lawful immigration.\u201d She added that a functioning immigration system would protect everyone, including those who seek to enter the country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReal reform means a funded immigration court system, smart technology at ports of entry, and cooperation with origin countries on root causes. It means agents who identify themselves, follow the law, and are held accountable when they do not. It means a legal pathway that works, not one so backlogged that doing things right means waiting 15 years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>As an immigration attorney, Ramirez believes America should provide permanent legal status and a path to citizenship for Dreamers and immigrants who have contributed to the country for years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur immigration laws need an overhaul and to be brought into the 21st century, giving workers more flexibility and options for people who are waiting decades to complete the legal process,\u201d she told The Times. \u201cIn the meantime, we need to keep our communities safe from unlawful ICE enforcement while supporting effective community policing, accountability and trust in law enforcement&#8230;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kerr said immigration policies aren\u2019t working, noting that it\u2019s not simply a choice between \u201copen borders and cruelty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He supports expanding immigration courts to eliminate backlogs, protecting Dreamers and creating a pathway to citizenship for people who contribute to the U.S., simplifying the process of legal immigration and boosting accountability for Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations to ensure enforcement is focused on real public safety threats.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can enforce the law with strength and we can do it with basic human dignity. These goals are not in conflict,\u201d he wrote on his campaign website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"p]:text-cms-story-body-color-text clearfix&#8221;&gt; Calvert for years has advocated for immigration reform, which he says must begin with controlling the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[380,7166,7,9,8,20865,124644,17358,4579,1493,124642,35342,592,2211,124643,51114,688,124641],"class_list":["post-296375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-affordable-housing","tag-ballots","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-candidates","tag-century-city-law-firm","tag-city-attorney","tag-district","tag-homelessness","tag-kuehl","tag-officers","tag-people","tag-race","tag-use-attorney","tag-yaroslavsky","tag-years","tag-yebri"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}