11:56 PM – November 6th, 2018 – West Hollywood
"And in what appears to be a stunning upset, NBC News is calling Proposition 6, the so-called 'CalExit' initiative, as having passed." The newscaster on the bar's TV said, going on the explain the legal details of the proposition and how it would function in the days ahead.
The patrons at this bar weren't paying attention though, they were too busy cheering for what had once been a seemingly impossible prospect, California breaking away from the United States to become it's own nation. Emily in particular had a good laugh with some of her friends after Obama was reelected when groups in Texas started a secession movement that had never gotten farther than a petition on the White House website.
Now though, now after everything that's happened in the past two years? Yeah, maybe California would be better off on our own.
"Can I buy you a drink?" Asked a woman standing behind Emily.
"It's a free country." Emily replied, flagging down a bartender. "Captain and Coke please."
"Really? It hasn't seemed like it." Said the woman.
"Well, it is now." She replied. "I'm Emily by the way."
"Lena." The other girl said as she looked down at Emily's 'I voted' sticker. "So did you vote for this?" Lena asked, waving her hand over towards the TVs that were now showing a graphical map of the election results.
"I did. Didn't think it'd win though." Emily said.
"Isn't that what the people in Britain said after Brexit?" Lena asked rhetorically.
"Yeah yeah rub it in my face." Groaned Emily.
"You want to hit the dance floor?" Asked Lena.
"New heels." Emily winced. "Still, I should break them in some-"
Just as Emily was getting up from her bar stool, all the lights in the club went black, the music stopped and the place was deathly calm.
"Everybody stay calm!" Shouted the bartender over the stunned silence. "It's just a power outage!"
As if on cue, the emergency exit lights came on, and everybody started walking out of the club.
"Ugh, there is no way I can drive right now." Said Lena, walking out of the bar with Emily. "You wanna take a Lyft over to my place?"
Emily nodded, and Lena pulled out her phone.
"Come on...." Lena grumbled to herself, waiting for the app on her phone to work. "Ugh. Guess Lyft isn't working since it can't seem to find where I am. Let me try Uber."
"No that's not working either, I got the same problem." Said a guy next to them.
"My place is like walking distance from her, you wanna crash there?" Offered Emily.
"Sure, why not." Replied Lena.
—
11:58 PM – Primm Valley Lotto Store – Ivanpah Valley
If retail work was absolute hell, than working a closing shift at a store that is just far enough over the state line to sell California Lottery tickets to Nevada residents in Primm was the ninth circle of that hell. Matt had already finished closing up the store and was having a quick smoke at the back of the store before packing his car up and heading home for the night.
Taking a drag of his cigarette, Matt looked over at the gaudy outlet mall, gas stations, and casinos that straddled the border between California and Nevada.
Reaching into his jacket for another cigarette, an enormous crashing sound caused Matt to nearly jump out of his skin.
Any thought about that sound was driven out of Matt's mind when he looked back out at Primm.
Or rather, where Primm had been.
Where the outlet mall, Buffalo Bill Hotel and Casino, Whiskey Pete's Hotel and Casino, and a whole lot of gas stations, was gone. Just open flat desert for miles. The only part of Primm still standing was the Lotto Store.
Peering his head over the edge of the asphalt, the road was cut perfectly off at the edge, leaving a glass smooth surface.
Looking over at the 15, it looked like the same thing had happened there. The freeway was still there on the California side, but it was cut like glass off at the Nevada border.
Hoping this was just a weird dream, Matt just opened up the back seat of his car, folded up his jacket as a sort of pillow, and went to sleep.
—
10:28 PM – Newsom for Governor Campaign Headquarters – San Francisco
"Gavin, you fought a good campaign, and I think we both came out of this looking good. I just wanted to congratulate you on your win, and wish you the best of luck." Came the voice of the former mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaragosa, from the speakerphone.
"Likewise Tony." Said Newsom. "You ran a good campaign, one to be proud of. Thank you."
—
From the journal of the Gold Miner Eamon Stewart, dated September 10th, 1850.
We finally sailed into San Francisco harbor that day. After surviving the treacherous waters of Cape Horn, I could only pray that California would have fair fortunes for me. But nothing could have prepared me for seeing San Francisco for the first time. Above the mouth to the bay was an enormous red bridge. I had just figured it was a part of San Francisco, but the captain had never seen it before in all his trips up to here.
I look deeper into the harbor and I see cities and buildings that day that i could have never imagined in my wildest dreams.
I have found El Dorado.
–––
Election Results of 2018:
Governor:
- Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) – 57.4%
- Former Mayor Antonio Villaragosa (D) – 42.6%
Lieutenant Governor:
- State Sen. Kevin de Léon (D) – 53.4%
- State Sen. Ed Hernandez (D) – 46.6%
Controller:
- Incumbent Controller Betty Yee (D)
- Former Mayor Ashley Swearengin (R)
Attorney General:
- Incumbent Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D)
- Former Mayor Donald P Wagner (R)
US Senator:
- Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones (D)
- Incumbent Senator Dianne Feinstein (D)
US House Delegation:
- Democrats: 47 seats (+8)
- Republicans: 6 seats
Ballot Measures:
Proposition 1 – California Transportation Taxes and Fees Lockbox. Referendum
Requires all funding from the SB1 funding bill from 2017 session to be spent on infrastructure maintenance.
Proposition 2 – Renewable Energy. Initiative
Requires the California PUC to have at least 50% of all electricity come from renewable sources by 2025, as opposed to 2030
Proposition 3 – Transportation Funding. Gas Tax. Initiative
Repeals the SB1 transportation funding bill. Would roll back gasoline taxes to pre-SB1 levels. A No vote repeals the measure, A Yes vote keeps it.
Proposition 4 – Single Payer Health Care System. Referendum.
Would replace the Covered California program with a single payer health care system. Would raise payroll taxes by 5% to fund it.
Proposition 5 – California National Popular Vote for President. Initiative.
The measure would advise elected officials to use their legal authority to push for a national popular vote to elect the United States President and Vice President. Non-binding.
Proposition 6 – California Independence from the United States. Initiative.
Repeals provision in California Constitution stating California is an inseparable part of the United States and that the United States Constitution is the supreme law of the land. Places question of whether California should become a separate country on a future ballot.
–––
8 AM – Governor's Mansion – Sacramento
Jerry Brown had had a sinking feeling about the brief power outage that had struck last night. He was finally at the end of his last term as governor, and he had been looking forward to handing the reins over to Gavin and focusing on climate change.
"So have you go power back?" He asked Michael Picker, president of the CA Public Utilities Commission.
"It took some work, but we've had to spin up every power plant in the state like a summer day to meet the present demand." Replied the voice over the speakerphone. "We're still going over what happened, but it's looking like something cut off all of our utility lines at the state border."
"Could it be terrorism?" Asked Brown. Not wanting to contemplate the other possibility, a threat that had been very publicly tweeted at California's leaders by the POTUS not that long ago.
"It's still too early to tell, but the guys at SCE and PG&E have started heading out to check the utility connections, so we should hear back from them on this." Replied Picker.
"Sir, you need to see this." Said one of Brown's aides, walking in with a tablet.
Knowing that he wouldn't have been interrupted unless it was important, Jerry grabbed the tablet and looked at it.
—
8:15 AM — Parker Dam — Parker City, Arizona
Holding up his phone, Kyle Nguyen was streaming everything he was seeing live on Periscope.
"This is the Arizona side of the Parker Dam. This is all that's left of it." He said, pointing his phone at where the road had been neatly bisected down the double yellow lines. "We were camping on the California side of Havasu last night, there was this huge crashing sound around midnight that woke all of us up, and now this morning? Everything on the Arizona side of the lake is just gone."
Kyle continued to show the Arizona side of the Parker Dam, before panning over to show a truck that was parked on the road, missing part of the trailer, spilling some of it's contents onto the road.
"We took a boat over to Lake Havasu City on the other side, and it was just nothing there."
—
Governor's Mansion — Sacramento
"Is that live?" Jerry asked reluctantly.
"Yes sir, that's live and..." The aide trailed off, looking at the screen again. "There's more. Photos from Needles, Tahoe, and even one from a Lottery store in Primm."
"So at this point, is there anything outside of California?" Asked Brown.
"Not known at this point sir." Replied the Aide.
"Alright here's what I'm going to do." Said Brown, getting up from his desk. "I'm declaring a state of emergency and mobilizing the guard. Get me Gavin on the phone, I need to coordinate with him so that when we hand this shit off it goes smoothly, Tell him if there's anything that he needs somebody to take the heat from him, I'll put my name on it and take the blame."
—
10 AM — Port of San Francisco
Captain James Wood had been running his steamer up and down the coast of California for years now, and he knew the route from San Pedro to San Francisco like the back of his hand. He knew that this should have been San Francisco Bay, he know all the navigation landmarks going in. But this wasn't the San Francisco he knew.
Something was wrong when he saw that massive red bridge running across the Golden Gate Strait. But seeing those massive towers all over San Francisco make him check his eyes.
Were those buildings? How can they build that high?
Steering his boat towards the wharf simply raised further questions.
Like how could a ship possibly be that big?
James had so much running through his head that when somebody asked him what the date was, he just reflexively answered "September 10th, 1850" without really thinking, thinking more about what happened to San Francisco and getting his cargo unloaded than anything else.
Beale Air Force Base, Yuba County, California — 10 AM — September 10th, 1850 — Day 1
Looking like an ungainly glider, the U-2S "Dragon Lady" shot down the runway and lifted into the sky.
"Still no GPS, continuing on INS." Said the pilot, flying north, he spotted his first waypoint.
"Eyes on Lake Oroville, turning east, continuing to climb." The U-2S continued to climb to even higher altitudes. "Looks like I'm picking up a contrail." The pilot reported. As the aircraft continued on its course, climbing up to high altitude to perform photographic reconnaissance of what had happened to California, and more importantly, to photograph what had happened to the rest of the world outside of the state.
–––
Governor's Mansion — Sacramento, California — 11:30 AM
"So let me get this straight." Asked Governor Brown. "Yesterday was November 6th, 2018, and today is September 10th, 1850."
"That about sums it up Governor." Said the voice over the speakerphone. "Griffith Park, Mount Wilson, and Palomar were all able to confirm it after looking at last night's sky pictures."
"And the borders of the state?" Brown asked.
"Everything, every road, power line and pipeline is cut off at the border. We got lucky that whatever did this let us keep the eastern bank of the Colorado River, or else we'd be looking at the loss of the Parker Dam." Said CPUC President Michael Picker on the conference call.
"Have we been able to make contact with anybody outside the state yet?" Asked Newsom on the call.
"We had one ship pull into the Port of San Francisco with passengers and cargo. CBP (Customs and Border Protection) is holding them at the port right now until they can get clear direction about what to do." Said San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.
"Sir," said the Commander of the California National Guard. "The Air Force is flying a U-2 over the state border to get a picture of the situation outside the state, we'll be able to get a clear picture of the rest of the country then."
"Alright, let's treat this like the rest of the United States doesn't exist, because for our purposes right now, it doesn't." Said Brown. "How is that going to affect us?"
"Electricity is a problem in the near term." Said Picker. "We're running our generation capacity like a summer day just to meet demand. ISO is going to be issuing a FlexAlert for the foreseeable future to curb demand a bit. Nat Gas is gonna be a problem very soon. All of our pipelines bringing it in from out of state were cut, and we only have the extraction capacity to meet a sixth of the demand, and to tie this in to the power issues that's going to mean shutting down some Nat Gas power plants soon. Water, if anything, is going to be a problem of exceeding our capacity. Our monitoring stations at Havasu showed a significant increase in the inflow from the Colorado, and we've already had to open the spillway for Parker Dam."
"Thank you Mike." Said Brown.
"As far as food goes, grocery stores have about 2 weeks worth of stock in their supply chains, after that, we start hitting constraints." Said Karen Ross, Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. "There's enough agriculture production in the state that we should be able to encourage people to look into cheaper locally-grown alternatives, but we're looking at price shocks in the near future. The good news is that if we really are back in 1850 now, the fish stocks of the Pacific Ocean should be replenished to where we can use that as a substitute in the medium term. For the longer term, there's a good amount of farm land we're not using, and since there's nobody really around to compete with us for the Colorado, we have more water available for our use. In the near term, we're going to look into sending some people over to Tijuana to see about negotiating deals for importing food, but that's contingent on ICE approval."
–––
From the Diary of Brigham Young — September 10th, 1850
Any doubts we the younger ones had about settling in the Salt Lake Valley were laid to rest today. Myself, along with many of us here saw an angel flying over the valley today, we all watched as the angel painted clouds into the heavens with the ease of a paintbrush on canvas. We have prayed our thankfulness to God today for showing us this miracle, my fellow church elders are already calling this a sign that we will have a blessed harvest in the coming months, and I cannot blame them.
–––
Senate Chambers — State Capitol Building — Sacramento — 6 PM
GOVERNOR EDMUND G. BROWN JR:
Thank you Senators and Assemblymembers for that warm welcome. When we woke up this morning, we awoke to a very different California than when we went to bed last night. Yesterday was November Sixth, Two Thousand and Eighteen, and today is September Tenth, Eighteen Fifty. While many of you out there voted for California to separate from the United States yesterday, as of today we are being given a taste of how that would work in practice. The times ahead will be difficult, and they will be tough, but I believe that we can endure this challenge, we can survive, and we can thrive.
To that effect, I am declaring a state of emergency across the entire state. The California National Guard is being mobilized to assess and repair damage to our infrastructure.
I understand that many of you are rightfully worried about the America we find ourselves in today, Well let me quote from a statement that that Senator De León and Mister Rendon made two years ago or one hundred and sixty six years from now, depending on how you look at it. "California is – and must always be – a refuge of justice and opportunity for people of all walks, talks, ages and aspirations – regardless of how you look, where you live, what language you speak, or who you love." While the country around us has changed drastically overnight, our values as Californians have not changed, and we will defend those values.
———
September 9th: California becomes the 31st state in the Union.
September 10th, 12 AM: The Event. The State of California circa November 7, 2018 is temporally relocated to 1850. Seismometers across the state record a 2.0 earthquake that unusually seems to lack an epicenter
September 10th, 12:01 AM: California experiences a statewide brownout with parts of the state losing electrical power completely.
September 10th, 12:02 AM: Oil fields see an immediate drop in production. Later investigation would reveal that they had all been filled with earth below the 1000 foot mark.
September 10th, 12:05 AM: Aircraft in flight report a loss of GPS signals.
September 10th, 12:15 AM: All airports in California ground outbound flights due to power issues.
September 10th, 12:30 AM: Aircraft on outbound flights are unable to contact ATC centers outside the state and divert back to California airfields.
September 10th, 1 AM: Amateur Astronomers and Astrophotographers immediately notice the difference and start photographing the changed night sky, as well as looking for the planets and recording their positions. Palomar, Mt. Wilson, Griffith Park and most California university observatories make similar observations.
September 10th, 1:15 AM: CPUC and ISO manage to restore power to the state.
September 10th, 5 AM: Residents in San Ysidro, Calexico, Needles, Blythe, Winterhaven, South Lake Tahoe, and Kings Beach wake up and realize that something is very wrong.
September 10th, 6 AM: Californians wake up and discover major internet outages with large swaths of the internet being down.
September 10th, 6:15 AM: Pictures and information from border towns begins to pour in that all signs of civilization outside of California appear to be gone.
September 10th, 7 AM: Governor Brown calls an emergency meeting of state government officials.
7:30 AM: The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco orders the banks in California to stay closed and not process any transactions for the week.
8 AM: JPL receives overnight data dumps from California observatories of the event, as well as amateur observations and recordings of planetary positions. They begin working to generate an ephemeris and figure out the new date.J
10 AM: The first downtime ship pulls into San Francisco Bay. Residents photograph and stream the anachronistic ship's arrival.
10:30 AM: The initial unconfirmed report that the year is now 1850 spreads across social media, leading to speculation that the state has gone back in time.
11 AM: Governor Brown declares a state of emergency.
1PM: 9th Air Reconnaissance Wing photographs Salt Lake City. Later comparisons of the aerial photographs and historical street maps would place it as sometime before 1870.
1:30 PM: Independent System Operators (ISO) issues a flex alert for electricity usage.
2 PM: A train of Conestoga wagons are spotted traveling along Interstate 80 in the community of Mystic.
6 PM: Governor Brown addresses the state about the time travel.
September 11th: SoCal Gas and PG&E issue warnings that the consumption of natural gas is massively outpacing supply and urge customers to massively reduce gas consumption.
California government orders fuel rationing and asks people to avoid driving if possible.
FDIC office in San Francisco places all bank branches in California into receivership, effectively nationalizing them.
September 12th: Geologists from the University of California San Bernardino drill core samples from around the state as well as work with the various oil drillers to determine that the shift happened no deeper than 1000 feet below ground.
September 13th: Oceangoing fishing boats report a massive increase in the amount of fish they're catching.
September 14: CPUC begins a crash program to build out more solar plants and expidite existing solar, wind and hydro projects. In addition, CPUC orders a feasibility study on recommissioning San Onofre.
September 15th: Prices for bread, poultry, beef, and pork begin to climb rapidly. Prices for fish, rice, dairy, fruit and nuts fall.
September 16th: A C-17 carrying California's two senators and newly elected Senator elect, several members of the congressional delegation, and a group of US Army and CNG troops takes off from Sacramento Airport for Washington. It would eventually land in an empty field in Camp Springs, MD (basically where Andrews AFB is today).
Army troops set up a two way HF Radio back to California to enable communications, along with a field runway so they can take off and land more easily next time.
Arriving in DC, California's senators and partial delegation request a meeting regarding what has happened with California. They are referred to the offices of John C. Frémont, William Gwin, George Wright, and Edward Gilbert.
September 17th: People in Maryland begin to talk about the enormous grey machine that came out of the sky.
September 18th: Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act.
September 20th: The California delegation meets with Frémont and explains the current crisis. They get him to agree to request emergency relief funding from the federal government, as well as a bill to temporarily zero import tariffs to California ports.
September 25th: Gas power plants begin running out of fuel, forcing CPUC to begin rolling blackouts across the state.
Gas stations across California begin running out of fuel.
September 27th: The first of many redrilled oil wells in California begins pumping. Oil wells that were almost dry before the transition are full again.
September 28th: Senators Frémont, Harris, and Senator-Elect Davis meet with President Fillmore about the crisis.
September 30: Frémont, Gwin, Wright, and Gilbert agree to return with the uptime delegation to Sacramento.
———
Truckee, California — September 10th, 2 PM
Gabriel Reyes had been on the force of the CHP for way too fucking long. Being based in Truckee meant that he had less calls about drunk drivers or writing speeding tickets, but was usually on the lookout for accidents and breakdowns, especially in Donner Pass, where the weather conditions could make for dangerous driving.
"Any units near Mystic, we've got a call that came in about a group of covered wagons traveling westbound on I-80." Came the voice of the CHP dispatch.
"This is Unit 230, I'm eastbound on I-80 by Boca dam now, I'll check it out." Gabe replied. "Dispatch, the caller said that it was a group of covered wagons, is that correct?"
"Affirmative 230." Replied the dispatcher. "Caller said it looked straight out of an old western."
Gabriel continued up the highway, ever since whatever it was that had happened last night, there was absolutely no vehicular traffic westbound on I-80, and the emergency lane on the eastbound side was full of trucks that had pulled over after drivers had reported that I-80 had abruptly stopped at the state line. Caltrans had quickly updated the changeable message sign system to warn drivers that EB I-80 was closed, and work crews were on their way to partially remove the center divider so those trucks could turn around.
Continuing up the Freeway, Reyes easily spotted the group of covered wagons heading up the freeway, flipping his lights on and whooping his siren, he ordered the wagon train to stop.
–––
Westbound Interstate 80 — September 10th, 2 PM
Matthew Lawson was once a banker. He had worked in Boston for the Second Bank of the United State, doing good, honest work, and he had enjoyed his job. But despite all the good that the Bank of the United States had been doing in Lawson's mind, the new president had railed against the idea of a central bank, and refused to renew the charter.
The economic collapse that had ensued in 1837 had been difficult for everybody, and Van Buren's refusal to do anything about it had only prolonged the crisis, even as entire states went bankrupt.
Even when he was trying to find work at a new bank, the morals he had lived his life by were nowhere to be seen in the Wildcat banks that had popped up after the crisis, and so many of them had essentially stolen their depositors money and closed their doors.
It wasn't until he had managed to find work with Suffolk Bank, who had been able to replicate some of what the Second Bank of the United States had been able to do, that he had somewhat gotten back on his feet. But when the news reached him that Gold had been found in California, Matthew realized it was time to go west, and so he withdrew his savings, bundled up his family and moved to Independence Missouri.
As Matthew and his family walked along this odd paved road in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and what a surprise that had been, he was mentally inventorying their trail supplies and praying they had enough to make it over the Sierras.
"Father, what's that?" Asked his eldest daughter Marie, pointing into the distance.
There, ahead of him on the trail was an oddly squat carriage that didn't appear to be pulled by any horses. It seemed to be moving towards them awfully fast, faster than he thought it was possible for a carriage to move.
As the odd vehicle got closer, it started to slow down and eventually stop near them. Figuring this was a good time to stop for a rest so that the Oxen could graze, he pulled the wagon on to the side of the narrow road.
As the mysterious carriage pulled back around alongside of them, the driver finally stepped out. As Lawson got his first look at the man, he realized that he was clearly wearing some kind of uniform, like one of the Day Police in Boston or the Night Watchmen in Independence. Matthew hadn't realized how much wealth must be in California if they could afford to have people patrolling the trails to keep travelers safe.
What followed was one of the most bewildering conversations that Matthew had ever had.
Where was he going? Sacramento. Where were they staying for the night? They were going to set up camp near Truckee. Did he have a campfire permit? He didn't even know he needed one or what it was.
After seemingly endless questions that seemed completely bizarre, the night watchman simply told him to keep to the right side of the road and keep everybody in the wagon, so that if another one of those odd fast vehicles came by, it wouldn't run into his wagon.
———
FDIC Regional Office — San Francisco — September 10th, 1 PM
"Guys, let me make the stakes clear here. If we walk out of this room and do nothing, we're looking at a collapse that makes 2008 look like a walk in the park." Spoke Director Stan Iver, seated at the head of the conference table. "As you've no doubt heard by now, the entire world outside of California is effectively gone."
"John Williams, Federal Reserve District 12" Came a voice from the speakerphone. "We've got a statement going out soon that'll remind people that any checks or electronic payments that need to be cleared will run through us here in San Francisco. We're working as fast as we can here to make sure that there's no problem before people's paychecks start getting deposited on Friday."
"In the mean time we're already seeing problems with VISA and Amex transactions failing." Came another voice on the speakerphone. "The only card processor still working right now is MasterCard."
"Okay listen up everyone." Said Iver, taking control of the room. "I need a listing of assets from every branch, every account holder with a California address, and how much cash you have on hand."
The assembled people in the conference room and on the call nodded and murmured in agreement.
"I'm going to make this clear." Said Iver. "Our financial system depends on the faith that when people wake up tomorrow, their money is exactly where they left it. Right now that belief has been shaken to the core by this event.
Our jobs right now are to make sure that people know their money is safe so they do. not. cash. out.
Just over a hundred years ago in this city a man named Amadeo Giannini kept his bank over after the earthquake. He kept the markets moving even after something like that. Because of that man, this city was about to recover." He said, with the restrained tension of a panther circling its prey.
"Brian, that was your bank's founder." He said to Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan. "We are facing a crisis of unbelievable proportions right now. Which is why, under the authority of the Banking Act of 1933 I am placing every single bank branch into temporary federal receivership."
At once the room and the conference line seemed to erupt into outrage.
"You all can sue me after this crisis is over, but right now I've got a crisis to stop."
–––
US Department of State, Office of Foreign Missions — Los Angeles — September 11th.
"Good morning everyone, for those who haven't met me before, I am Tracy Harding, I am the director of the US State Department Office of Foreign Missions in Los Angeles." Said the woman at the front of the room.
"I know a lot of you have questions about what this event means for you and your respective citizens. First let me assure you that we will not be forcing anybody to leave the country. Anybody who was traveling through California or was here on a tourist Visa will be able to stay indefinitely." She announced to a sigh of relief from the room.
"After it was confirmed that the state had in fact, in fact, traveled back in time to 1850." She continued. "We started researching the laws that governed immigration at that time. Or rather, the lack thereof."
"In discussions with us, many of you confided that your people effectively have no country to return to." She said, nodding towards the representative from the German consulate. "Or have a country that would be openly hostile to people returning from abroad." Acknowledging the Japanese consulate's representative.
"In discussions with my colleagues at the OFM San Francisco, ICE, CBP, and USCIS, given the unprecedented nature of what has happened, the fact that everybody within the state has nowhere else to go, and the absolute lack of federal law from the current time period to provide guidance, we are extending Lawful Permanent Resident status to every single person who was in the state at the time of the event."
