When you’re California, you get to enjoy a certain level of hypocrisy that others don’t. For example, you can advocate for open borders to allow millions of illegal immigrants in without any structure or plan for assimilation. You cannot implement a travel ban against foreign nationals that come from countries who harbor terrorism and may be on an intelligence watch list. You absolutely can, however, create a blacklist filled with states you will not allow your constituents to travel to because their policies hurt your feelings.
California attorney general Xavier Becerra announced Iowa was added to the travel-ban list which “takes effect October 4 and means public employees and college students will not be able to travel to Iowa on the taxpayer’s dime” reported the National Review. What did Iowa do to offend California? In May, Iowa’s governor Kim Reynolds “signed a law blocking Medicaid from paying for gender-reassignment surgeries despite the state Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this year in favor of charging taxpayers for the procedures.”
Becerra said, “California has taken an unambiguous stand against discrimination and government actions that would enable it.” California’s travel blacklist comes from a law passed in 2016 “allowing the Golden State to ban state travel to other U.S. states that roll back protections for LGBT citizens. Texas, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Kentucky are also on the list.”
