California Democrats are unleashing their own brand of Greek mythological trickery, with AB 495 as the latest Trojan Horse. What’s being sold as a compassionate family safeguard actually hides a dangerous power grab, adding to their long list of government overreach.
The Family Preparedness Plan Act, authored by Assemblymember Celeste Rodriguez (D–San Fernando), pushes California’s sanctuary policies further while stealthily eroding parental rights and quietly delivering government control into the homes of every California family.
At its core, AB 495 requires any local body responsible for public education to assist parents and guardians in creating a “Family Preparedness Plan” that identifies a trusted adult to care for a child if the parent or guardian becomes absent or unavailable due to detention, deportation, or other circumstances.
In addition, the bill prohibits school officials and employees from requesting, collecting, or maintaining information about the citizenship or immigration status of students or their family members, except when required by state or federal law or necessary to administer government programs.
However, any information obtained must be kept confidential and cannot be shared with federal immigration authorities.
In typical cases, arrangements for a child’s care during a parent’s absence happen privately within families or through the courts, not through direct government coordination.
AB 495 changes this dynamic by institutionalizing government involvement through “Family Preparedness Plans,” thrusting local educational agencies into a proactive role of managing caregiving contingencies — effectively inserting government into what should be private family decisions.
California parents should recognize AB 495 for what it truly is: a stealthy government takeover of family authority disguised as protection from lawful federal immigration enforcement.
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Immigration is a federal responsibility. Yet, AB 495 brazenly tramples on that authority and further entrenches California Democrats' power to thumb their noses at federal law whenever it suits their radical agenda.
Angelica Salas, Executive Director of the taxpayer-funded, Marxist agitator training organization, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), spelled it out loud and clear in a statement of support:
“The federal government is terrorizing our immigrant communities with their plans of mass deportation... We must ensure children in mixed-status households are being properly cared for in the case of their parents being detained or deported by Immigration Enforcement... AB 495 aims to protect children with immigrant parents.”
This so-called “emergency response” is a Trojan Horse for permanent government intrusion. Once bureaucrats are trained, protocols locked in, and paperwork standardized, this becomes another brick in the Democrats' wall against federal immigration enforcement and a direct attack on parental rights.
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Here lies the real danger of AB 495. The bill doesn’t simply prepare for one narrowly defined scenario; it creates a legal foothold for California Democrats to determine what circumstances justify state intervention in family life — shifting ultimate authority from parents to government.
Today, the focus is on deportation as the reason to step in.
But tomorrow? This “preparedness” framework could be expanded to include vaccine refusal, gender dysphoria-affirming care, homeschooling, political activism, or any parental choice that state officials decide threatens a child’s welfare.
By embedding itself into family decision-making under the vague banner of “preparedness,” the state gains the power to redefine what qualifies as a threat — turning parental rights into a political bargaining chip and placing family autonomy directly on the chopping block.
This is how government power creeps forward. Not through sweeping changes overnight, but by quietly building broad authority under the guise of protection.
Authoritarianism doesn’t arrive with a bang. It seeps in quietly, wrapped in “well-intentioned” policies that chip away at family freedom and expand government control, one small step at a time.
AB 495 is a direct assault on limited government, federalism, and parental sovereignty. It further obstructs federal immigration enforcement, injects the state into private family decisions, and sets a dangerous precedent for government overreach inside every California home.
The bill has already cleared the State Assembly and now faces a critical hearing in the State Senate Appropriations Committee on August 18th.
California parents — and anyone who values constitutional limits on government — must rise up and say “no” before this Trojan horse rolls right through your front door.
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