California Democrats are facing accusations that the state’s sanctuary policies are leaving vulnerable migrant children unchecked after California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office warned that local police welfare visits on unaccompanied minors using information from federal authorities could violate state law.

The warning from Bonta has become a flashpoint in a broader lawsuit brought by the City of El Cajon against California’s sanctuary state policies. City officials, like Mayor Bill Wells and City Councilman Steve Goble, argue that the state is putting law enforcement in an impossible position, such as forcing them to make a determination on whether to check on potentially vulnerable children flagged by federal immigration authorities and risk violating state law, or leave the vulnerable unaccompanied minors unchecked.

Goble told Fox News Digital he was informed during a February 2025 meeting with San Diego-area Homeland Security officials that federal authorities had a list of unaccompanied migrant children, including 52 with addresses in El Cajon. He said federal officials asked whether local police could help «ensure these kids are safe» through welfare checks, prompting Goble to seek guidance from Bonta’s office before dispatching officers.

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«It’s kind of hard to imagine why they’re choosing this hill to die on,» Wells told Fox News Digital. «What they basically want to say is, ‘Because our narrative is so important, and protecting illegal aliens is so important, that, yeah, if a few kids get sex trafficked along the way — you know, you’re just making this up. You’re just using this as a way.’ I mean, these are real people. These are real children. I think it’s an incredibly insensitive argument.«

Goble had asked Bonta’s office in a March 2025 letter whether local police could conduct the checks using contact information provided by federal authorities, writing that the city wanted to ensure all children were safe «regardless of citizenship or resident status.» 

In the letter, Goble cited the inspector general’s concerns that unaccompanied minors are at heightened risk of trafficking, exploitation and forced labor, and wrote that «time is of the essence» in determining whether the children were safe.

Meanwhile, Bonta’s office responded in a June 2025 letter, warning that local law enforcement pursuing wellness checks «alongside or based on information provided by federal immigration authorities» could implicate conduct prohibited by SB 54, known as the California Values Act. 

Bonta’s letter said these violations could include if officers confirmed location information provided by ICE, or reported the results of the check back to federal immigration authorities.

But Goble told Fox News Digital that the city was not asking police to act as immigration agents, but primarily wanted to confirm whether the children are safe.

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«All I care about is, is the kid safe?» Goble told Fox News Digital. «I don’t care the immigration status or citizen status of anybody else in the room.»

Unaccompanied children were found at the U.S. border in Texas. (Texas DPS)

The welfare-check dispute is one piece of a broader legal challenge El Cajon filed against Bonta on April 28, 2026, seeking relief from California’s sanctuary policies impacting how local law enforcement do their jobs, including SB 54, the TRUST Act and the TRUTH Act. In a May 20 motion for a preliminary injunction, the city asked the court to temporarily block Bonta from enforcing those laws against El Cajon while the case proceeds, arguing the policies are preempted by federal immigration law and put local police in the position of choosing between state restrictions and federal obligations.

The May 20 injunction motion specifically cites the Goble-Bonta exchange as an example of how the city says California’s sanctuary laws prevent El Cajon officers from engaging in «basic public safety work.» The filing argues that the state’s legal framework forces officers to spend time navigating «legal hairsplitting» instead of responding quickly to public-safety concerns, including checks on children in the community.

«Every time an El Cajon police officer steps out onto the street, they’re going to be breaking one of two laws,» Wells said to Fox News Digital. «They’re either going to be breaking federal law or they’re going to be breaking state law. And you cannot put police officers in that situation.»

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El Cajon’s lawsuit is not limited to the welfare checks. The April 28 complaint broadly asks a San Diego County court to declare California’s sanctuary restrictions invalid and to stop Bonta from enforcing them against El Cajon police.

El Cajon police officer Stephen Hannibal works his new dog Ace at the El Cajon Police Department on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 in El Cajon, CA. (Eduardo Contreras / The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images)

Bonta’s office’s June 2025 response said it «share[s]» El Cajon’s concern for children who may be at risk of harm, but suggested county social service agencies may have a role when there is no evidence of criminal activity requiring law enforcement.

Wells and Goble pushed back on that argument; however, arguing Bonta’s suggestion ignored San Diego County’s December 2024 vote restricting county resources from being used to assist federal immigration enforcement.

«That means we’re not going to let our social service workers go do welfare checks on unaccompanied minors for the Department of Homeland Security,» Goble told Fox News Digital. «It’s another rock and a hard place.»

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Wells added that it was difficult to accept Bonta’s suggestion that county agencies could serve as a neutral fallback for welfare checks tied to information from federal authorities. «This is the same county we would be deferring to, to check on these kids,» Wells added. «They’re not neutral. They’ve been very, very clear.»

Immigrant-rights advocates nationally have warned that ICE «welfare checks» on unaccompanied migrant children can function as immigration enforcement under the banner of child safety. The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights has called the Trump administration’s ICE «wellness checks» harmful enforcement «in disguise,» while other advocates have warned that DHS visits can discourage sponsors from coming forward or expose families to deportation fears.

But Wells and Goble rejected that framing, arguing local police could check on children without reporting immigration violations discovered during the visit.

«That doesn’t make us federal immigration officers,» Wells said. «It just means that our officers could do their job like they’ve always done in the past before this unconstitutional law of SB 54 was passed.»

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«All a welfare check on anybody in our city, regardless of immigration status, is: Are they okay?» Goble added. «If they are, thank you very much. Have a good day. See you later.»

Wells noted the lawsuit is not about deputizing local police as immigration agents, but about ensuring officers can do basic public-safety work without running afoul of state law.

Fox News Digital reached out to Bonta’s office, as well as the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but did not hear back in time for publication.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said Gulf allies are backing President Donald Trump’s blockade and economic pressure campaign against Iran, telling Fox News Digital after a trip to Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom that regional leaders believe Tehran is feeling the pain.

Waltz spoke to Fox News Digital on Thursday evening shortly after landing back in the United States, as reports of a possible deal with Iran began to emerge. He said the situation was still shifting by the hour, noting that Iran had launched another strike on Bahrain shortly after he left the region.

Waltz, the highest-level U.S. official to visit the region since the war began, said Gulf partners strongly support the administration’s efforts to keep pressure on Iran through both the blockade and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s «Operation Economic Fury.»

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«They very much support the blockade,» Waltz said, adding that allies shared with him «in a number of ways» how Bessent’s economic campaign is affecting the regime. The pressure campaign, Waltz said, is designed to squeeze Tehran while Trump continues negotiations aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

On Friday, an unnamed U.S. official told reporters in a briefing: «We do expect to be signing this agreement with Iran over the next few days. We assess it at 85%, but not 100%. We feel very good about the deal. We are not quite at the finish line, but we are very close»

Waltz said, «The UAE, in particular, believes that you have to keep that pressure and a very credible pressure,» he told Fox News Digital. «That’s what the Iranians understand and respond to.»

Waltz said leaders in the region validated U.S. assessments that Iran’s economy is deteriorating under the combined weight of sanctions, military pressure and isolation. He said Iran’s currency is «tanking,» foreign currency reserves are running out, inflation is continuing to rise and the regime is struggling to pay the military, government employees and police.

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An Emirates aircraft flies past plumes of smoke from a fire near Dubai International Airport in Dubai on March 16, 2026, following missile and drone attacks across the UAE. (AFP/Getty Images)

«I think the regime is going to be increasingly desperate,» Waltz said, adding that Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Scott Bessent, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would use that pressure «to their advantage.»

In the UAE, Waltz met with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and the foreign minister, describing the Emiratis as among the most active regional partners against Iran. «There is zero daylight,» Waltz said.

Waltz added the UAE has «both the capability and the will» to act, and said the Emiratis are prepared to take «short-term pain» to achieve the longer-term goal of blocking Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

The UAE has been hit hard during the war. Waltz said the country had taken «by far the most missiles, the most drones, the most hits,» but had moved quickly to repair damage and restore operations. 

Aftermath of an Iranian missile strike on a Navy 5th Fleet installation in Bahrain is shown above. (Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Waltz also pointed to the Abraham Accords as a major factor in the UAE’s posture, saying the country’s growing partnership with Israel has become an «important shift» in the regional alignment against Iran.

Bahrain was another central stop on Waltz’s trip. The country hosts the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet and has been directly exposed to Iran’s attacks and threats around the Strait of Hormuz.

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U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Michael Waltz speaks at an emergency Security Council meeting on the situation in Iran at United Nations headquarters on Feb. 28, 2026 in New York City.  (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

«Until you go and really sit with them, you can’t appreciate what a strong ally they are,» Waltz said.

He said U.S. and allied teams in Bahrain are working with global shipping companies, local shipping officials, insurance companies and other maritime actors as the U.S. seeks to keep vessels moving through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints.

Waltz accused Iran of making a «phenomenally bad decision» by attacking its neighbors, including hotels, port facilities and energy infrastructure. During one visit to a petroleum site, he said he saw evidence that Iran had targeted fire suppression systems and first responders before striking storage tanks, in an apparent effort to maximize damage.

A billboard depicting Iran’s supreme leaders since 1979: (L to R) Ayatollahs Ruhollah Khomeini (until 1989), Ali Khamenei (until 2026), and Mojtaba Khamenei (incumbent) is displayed above a highway in Tehran on March 10, 2026. Iran marked the appointment of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei to replace his father as its supreme leader on March 9, 2026.  (AFP/Via Getty Images)

«The Iranians were deliberately targeting fire suppression systems,» Waltz said. «They were deliberately targeting first responders first.»

Despite the strikes, Waltz said allied air defenses have had «over a 90% success rate» in shooting down Iranian missiles and drones, with U.S. forces working «hand in glove» with Gulf partners.

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Waltz ended his trip in the United Kingdom, where he said officials have been strong partners at the U.N. Security Council on Iran. He acknowledged «hiccups» and «speed bumps» over basing and access issues, but said many of those concerns had been «smoothed over.»

«When we’re working to keep the Iranians isolated diplomatically,» Waltz said, «they’ve been very good to work with.»

A federal judge on Friday indefinitely blocked the Trump administration’s $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund, even as another federal judge earlier this week declined to intervene after the Justice Department said the fund was no longer moving forward.

The court disputes have heightened pressure on the administration to formally dismantle the fund. While Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told Congress the fund would not move forward, the settlement agreement and departmental directives that created the fund have not been formally rescinded. Critics argue this leaves open the possibility that the fund could still proceed in the future.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, a Clinton-appointed judge, extended a court order Friday preventing implementation of the fund, concluding that public assurances from administration officials were insufficient to eliminate concerns that it could later be revived.

Brinkema noted how Trump, «says he’s disappointed that something is not going forward,» suggesting this was evidence that the fund may «rear its head» at some point in the future.

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Over the weekend Trump shared on «Meet the Press» that he’d like to continue with the fund.

«If it was up to me, I’d pay them the kind of money that they deserve. People have been destroyed. Lives have been destroyed,» Trump said.

Brinkema gave the Justice Department a week to put in writing that the Anti-Weaponization Fund is being terminated and will not be reinstated.

The ruling comes days after U.S. District Judge Richard Leon rejected a separate request from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) seeking emergency intervention, saying he was willing to rely on Justice Department representations that the fund had effectively been abandoned.

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But Leon, a George W. Bush-appointed judge, simultaneously warned administration officials not to treat his decision as permission to revive the program.

«I give the Justice Department this warning: Don’t play possum with me,» Leon said from the bench.

Blanche announced during a hearing earlier this month that the Anti-Weaponization Fund, which was born out of President Donald Trump’s lawsuit settlement with the IRS, would not be proceeding. The fund was intended to compensate alleged victims of government «lawfare,» but its creation sparked immediate backlash from Democrats, who characterized it as a «slush fund» that could ultimately benefit Trump’s political allies and individuals charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

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FILE – Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche was directed to obtain a certificate of pardon for Buyer. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Justice Department attorney Andrew Block argued before Leon that Blanche’s congressional testimony effectively mooted CREW’s challenge because the government had publicly committed not to move forward.

Leon repeatedly questioned why Blanche has not formally rescinded a May 18 order that established procedures for the fund in the first place, a question Block could not answer.

CREW attorney Nikhel Sus argued the settlement agreement that established the fund remains legally operative and contains upcoming deadlines requiring action.

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Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche testifies during a House Committee on Appropriations subcommittee hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C., on June 2, 2026. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

According to Sus, a five-member board overseeing the fund must be established by June 17, while funding transfers are scheduled by July 17.

«On paper, the fund is still a legally operating entity,» Sus argued.

However, Leon ultimately accepted the government’s assurances for now that the fund is moot, but he noted that he can sanction attorneys who make false representations to the court.

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He also indicated he will continue considering CREW’s request for a preliminary injunction and suggested he could intervene if evidence emerges that the administration is attempting to revive the fund.