California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, visited the SEIU Local 721 office in Riverside on Friday to speak and answer questions for those in attendance, January 5, 2018. (John Valenzuela/Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, listen to a question from Luis Antonio Ruiz, of Chino, during his visit to the offices of SEIU Local 721 in Riverside, Friday, January 5, 2018. (John Valenzuela/Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

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California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, visited the SEIU Local 721 office in Riverside on Friday to speak and answer questions for those in attendance, January 5, 2018. (John Valenzuela/Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, visited the SEIU Local 721 office in Riverside on Friday to speak and answer questions for those in attendance, January 5, 2018. (John Valenzuela/Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, visited the SEIU Local 721 office in Riverside on Friday to speak and answer questions for those in attendance, January 5, 2018. (John Valenzuela/Press-Enterprise/SCNG)



Public school teacher Julia Peacock of Corona, asks California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, a question during his visit to the offices of SEIU Local 721 in Riverside, Friday, January 5, 2018. (John Valenzuela/Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, visited the SEIU Local 721 office in Riverside on Friday to speak and answer questions for those in attendance, January 5, 2018. (John Valenzuela/Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Marijuana advocate Lanny Swerdlow, asks California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, a question during his visit to the offices of SEIU Local 721 in Riverside, Friday, January 5, 2018. (John Valenzuela/Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, visited the SEIU Local 721 office in Riverside on Friday to speak and answer questions for those in attendance, January 5, 2018. (John Valenzuela/Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, visited the SEIU Local 721 office in Riverside on Friday to speak and answer questions for those in attendance, January 5, 2018. (John Valenzuela/Press-Enterprise/SCNG)



California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, visited the SEIU Local 721 office in Riverside on Friday to speak and answer questions for those in attendance, January 5, 2018. (John Valenzuela/Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, visited the SEIU Local 721 office in Riverside on Friday to speak and answer questions for those in attendance, January 5, 2018. (John Valenzuela/Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, visited the SEIU Local 721 office in Riverside on Friday to speak and answer questions for those in attendance, January 5, 2018. (John Valenzuela/Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, visited the SEIU Local 721 office in Riverside on Friday to speak and answer questions for those in attendance, January 5, 2018. (John Valenzuela/Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, visited the SEIU Local 721 office in Riverside on Friday to speak and answer questions for those in attendance, January 5, 2018. (John Valenzuela/Press-Enterprise/SCNG)



California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, visited the SEIU Local 721 office in Riverside on Friday to speak and answer questions for those in attendance, January 5, 2018. (John Valenzuela/Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, takes a photo with Naomi Minogue (L), and Marian Arguello ¨, after his visit to the offices of SEIU Local 721 in Riverside on Friday, January 5, 2018. (John Valenzuela/Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, visited the SEIU Local 721 office in Riverside on Friday to speak and answer questions for those in attendance, January 5, 2018. (John Valenzuela/Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom brought his gubernatorial campaign to Riverside on Friday, Jan. 5, telling residents and area Democratic leaders that California is the center of the resistance against President Donald Trump.

“The world is looking to us,” said Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco.

Newsom hosted a meet and greet at the SEIU 721 regional office in Riverside. He was scheduled to stop at Laborers Local 652 in Santa Ana later Friday afternoon.

He was introduced by state Sen. Richard Roth, D-Riverside. Angelov Farooq, a member of the Riverside Unified Board of Education, and other elected officials were among those who attended.

Newsom, a Democrat, has been a fierce critic of Trump and other national Republican leaders.

When the Trump administration moved Thursday, Jan. 4, to expand offshore drilling from the Atlantic to the Arctic oceans, Newsom took to Facebook to address the president: “I’ve got a message for you from California: Ain’t. Gonna. Happen.”

Newsom, who’s also a member of the California State Lands Commission, said on Friday that the three-member panel unanimously passed a resolution about six months ago opposing on-shoring of any oil.

“It was something we had anticipated,” Newsom said. “There will be no new offshore oil drilling in California unless they come up with a novel approach that we believe, at this time at least, is cost prohibitive.”

He said he opposes the Cadiz water project, which involves pumping billions of gallons of water annually from an underground aquifer in a remote part of the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County.

Newsom also spoke against U.S. Attorney General Jeff Session’s decision to lift an Obama-era policy that kept federal authorities from cracking down on marijuana in states where the drug is legal. Recreational marijuana became legal in California Jan. 1.

Newsom said he foresees a number of strategies using public resources to fight back against a federal marijuana crackdown. There will likely be private legal action as well, he said.

“There will be a lot of pushback,” he said.

Newsom also addressed the issue of sanctuary cities across the state after Thomas Homan, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in an interview with Fox that politicians who run sanctuary cities should be charged with crimes.

Newsom, who has defended San Francisco’s sanctuary status, said the policy is sound.

“Sanctuary policy is not a policy that excuses criminal behavior,” he said. “It is not a shield for criminal activity.”

He also voiced his support for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival, or DACA, program that shields young immigrants from deportation. They’re often referred to as Dreamers.

“I want to protect our Dreamers,” Newsom said.

“No state has more to lose, no state has more to gain on immigration policy than the state of California,” he said.