California - Saba:
Newsweek reported, citing Coyote Marin, director of the California Independence Institute, that the percentage of citizens who want the state to secede from the United States has reached 44%, the highest in the state's history.
According to information published on the institute's website, YouGov conducted a poll between June 11 and 23 of 500 Californians with a margin of error of 5.7 percentage points.
Nearly half of the respondents—44%—supported the vote for "California to declare its intention to peacefully and legally secede from the United States."
Newsweek quoted Coyote Marin, director of the institute, as saying, "This is the highest percentage ever recorded in a poll in favor of secession."
Timothy Vollmer, vice president of the institute, added, "Californians are ready for self-government."
The report indicated that the previous highest percentage of Californians who want to secede from the United States was recorded in June 2021, at 42%.
YouGov poll results also showed that 50% of respondents expressed greater trust in the California government than in the federal government. Twenty-eight percent of respondents expressed equal trust in both governments.
Conversely, according to the institute's data, 47% of Californians in January 2025 had equal trust in both governments, while only 34% expressed greater trust in the state government.
On June 7, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted a major raid in downtown Los Angeles, during which a large number of undocumented immigrants were discovered. The following day, the White House announced the deployment of National Guard personnel to the city.
Later, Los Angeles County authorities confirmed that they had not requested assistance from the National Guard, emphasizing that the decision to deploy them was made without coordination with local authorities.
In this regard, Governor Gavin Newsom filed a lawsuit against Trump, the Department of Defense, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, alleging violations of federal law and the Constitution.
The protests turned into confrontations with police, with security forces using rubber bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades.
Following the riots in Los Angeles, which erupted in response to the ICE raid, protests and demonstrations against the Trump administration's policies toward undocumented immigrants spread to other California cities, including San Francisco. The wave of protests then spread to other states, including Washington.
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