"But we're not going to bring stupid lawsuits or be running to the courthouse every day. We're going to be careful. We'll be strategic," Jerry Brown said. | AP Photo California governor: We won't 'bring stupid lawsuits' against border wall

California Gov. Jerry Brown said in an interview that aired Sunday that California will "fight very hard" against President Donald Trump's proposed border wall, but will not "bring stupid lawsuits" to the table.

During an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," Brown told host Chuck Todd that "if everything's a lawsuit, yeah, we're in trouble," adding that both Republicans and Democrats like to escalate things and that Brown is "going to keep everything on an even keel."


"I don't like that wall, number one. And to the extent that that violates law, certainly I would enforce that," Brown said in an interview with NBC's "Meet The Press." "We're not going to sit around and just play patsy and say, 'Hey, go ahead. Lock us in. Do whatever the hell you want. Deport 2 billion, 2 million people.' No, we're going to fight, and we're going to fight very hard."

"But we're not going to bring stupid lawsuits or be running to the courthouse every day. We're going to be careful. We'll be strategic," he said.

Brown added that California is going to do the "Christian thing," from his point of view. He went on to bash Trump, who he said is supposed to be "Mr. Religious Fellow," adding that he hopes conservative evangelicals tell the president that undocumented immigrants are "human beings, they're children of God. They should be treated that way."

The Democratic governor, however, said he wants to work with the president "where there's something good."

"I'm not going to just turn over our police department to become agents of the federal government as they deport women and children and people who are contributing to the economic well being of our state, which they are," Brown said.

When asked by Todd about critics who say allowing undocumented immigrants who have only committed small crimes to stay encourages more people to come, Brown said that he has signed a bill that listed over 50 separate offenses where local police should cooperate with immigration services.

"So we're not here to protect criminals. But we do recognize that America's the land of opportunity. All of our parents came here at one time, our grandparents, our great-grandparents, they came here. That's what builds the state."

Brown added that some swing states don't have enough immigrants to build their economy.

"We're building it. And we're the gateway to the Pacific. Right now, more Mexican people are going back to Mexico than are coming. So I think we have to create a human, a decent sense with respect to our immigrants," Brown said. "And maybe I can convince the president that he has to take a more enlightened view."