In the year 2025, California kicked off the year with chaos, as devastating wildfires engulfed the homes of thousands of residents. Following the wildfires, a series of events unfolded throughout the state: multiple refineries announced closures, a large-scale immigration clash between the state and federal government, revelations of surrogacy scandals in Chinese communities, the collapse of the ban on the sale of fuel vehicles, redistricting, revocation of commercial truck driver licenses for tens of thousands, soaring home insurance prices, and a projected $18 billion budget deficit for California next year.
Looking back, let’s summarize the top ten news stories in California over the past year.
On January 7th, the Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire erupted in the Los Angeles area, leading to six major fires sweeping through the city. The Pacific Palisades area was ravaged, with an estimated property loss of billions and the destruction of many Hollywood celebrities’ homes. The Palisades Fire scorched over 23,000 acres of land, destroying about 7,000 structures and resulting in 12 deaths; the Eaton Fire engulfed an area of over 14,000 acres, causing 18 deaths and the destruction of nearly ten thousand homes.
The cause of the Eaton Fire is still under investigation, with more evidence pointing to power lines as the source; while the Palisades Fire was intentionally sparked by a 29-year-old rideshare driver.
Critics pointed out that state and city officials in California not only made significant errors in responding to the fires but also had serious inadequacies in their preparedness, even leading to dry fire hydrants.
Today, the areas scorched by the fires remain desolate, making rebuilding a challenging task. Meanwhile, the insurance industry has faced significant costs. By July, California’s largest home insurance company, State Farm, received nearly 13,000 claims and paid out over $4.2 billion in compensation to customers.
Starting from June 1st, the company urgently raised insurance premiums for homes, apartments, and rental properties. This wildfire has plunged California’s insurance industry, leading to increasing premiums and difficulties in purchasing insurance.
The chronic high oil prices in California have been further exacerbated by multiple major oil giants planning to close primary refineries. Apart from Phillips 66 closing its refinery in Los Angeles, Valero also plans to shut down its Benicia refinery in the San Francisco Bay Area in April 2026.
Phillips 66 and Valero jointly supply nearly 1/5 of California’s gasoline. Experts warn that this could not only trigger a fuel crisis in California, leading to skyrocketing oil prices and winter heating costs reaching exorbitant levels but also bring about a chain reaction affecting people’s livelihoods.
Mike Ariza, a former senior manager at Valero’s refinery, warned that just the closure of refineries by Phillips 66 and Valero is equivalent to removing 13 to 15 million gallons of gasoline from California daily. If fuel scarcity becomes a reality, experts predict that oil prices could soar to $10 to $12 per gallon in 2026.
California also boasts the highest gasoline tax in the United States. Since California passed SB1 in 2017, the state’s gasoline tax has been automatically raised annually. California’s current gasoline tax has reached 61.2 cents per gallon, approximately $1.50 higher than the national average.
In July, a shocking child abuse case in Arcadia, the wealthiest Chinese community in Southern California, came to light: a $4 million mansion housed 21 children born to different surrogate mothers, all legally belonging to 65-year-old Guojun Xuan and 38-year-old Silvia Zhang.
The incident began on May 7th when a two-month-old baby was urgently taken to a local hospital after suffering severe head injuries and intracranial bleeding.
Following the police search of the house and reviewing surveillance footage, authorities found that the infant lost consciousness on May 5th due to severe shaking and beating by the babysitter, Chunmei Li. Despite knowing about the incident, Guojun Xuan and Silvia Zhang did not seek medical help promptly. It was only two days later when the child had a seizure that they took the baby to the hospital.
The investigation revealed that the children were from a surrogacy agency operated by Guojun Xuan and Silvia Zhang. The youngest of the 21 children was only two months old, with most being infants and toddlers. Many of the children had suffered physical and emotional abuse. Both individuals were arrested on charges related to child endangerment, and after posting $500,000 bail each, they were released.
As more details emerged, the case evolved from initial reports of housing 21 children in luxury homes, suspected child abuse, and surrogacy scandals to allegations of child trafficking. Several surrogate mothers publicly admitted to carrying children for the couple, with surrogacy companies openly pricing surrogacy at a minimum of $50,000 per child.
Exclusive reports from The Daily Wire stated that the FBI is investigating allegations of a commercial baby trafficking scheme involving California and China.
Guojun Xuan’s background has also raised concerns. He is an active pro-Communist overseas Chinese leader in Southern California, frequently attending events organized by Chinese Communist-backed groups. He holds titles such as Chairman of the American Xinjiang General Chamber of Commerce, Honorary Chairman of the United Southern California Chinese Association, a committee member of the United Southern California Chinese Community, and Chairman of the America Southern Qiaodirector. Online information revealed that Guojun Xuan is a member of the Chinese Communist Party and has held positions such as a representative of the National People’s Congress, a member of the Municipal People’s Congress Finance and Economic Committee, and Vice President of the Xinjiang Entrepreneurs Association.
After the case escalated, a substantial amount of online information regarding Guojun Xuan’s pro-Communist background was deleted. Multiple sources also indicated that between 2017 and 2023, Guojun Xuan had registered at least 14 companies and had affiliations with another 10 companies.
On June 12th, former President Trump signed an executive order revoking California’s electric vehicle mandate, preventing the state from implementing emissions standards to phase out fuel cars gradually. This meant that California’s zero-emission plans, such as the “2035 Stop Selling New Gasoline Vehicles” initiative, were in jeopardy, as the state’s unique authority to set emission standards was revoked.
Following the signing of the order, California immediately announced a lawsuit with ten states’ attorneys general against the federal government.
Moreover, policy changes also brought a double blow to California’s electric vehicle (EV) owners: starting in October, the federal “7,500 Tax Annual Credit” and the privilege of using a single occupant high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane fully expired.
Specifically, new electric vehicles lost the $7,500 tax credit, second-hand electric vehicles lost $4,000 in credit, and owners with the California “Clean Air Vehicle” decal lost the privilege of using the HOV lane alone, facing fines for violations.
Over the past year, the U.S. government has intensified efforts to combat crime, with many cases involving Chinese residents. Below are a few examples.
On December 15th, the FBI announced the disruption of a confirmed terrorism threat, arresting four suspects allegedly planning a series of bomb attacks in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve. One of them is Tina Lai, a 41-year-old Chinese woman. If convicted on both charges, she faces a maximum federal sentence of 15 years.
On November 18th, Cynthia Song, a Chinese-American woman living in Arcadia, was sentenced to 121 months in federal prison for orchestrating a large-scale transnational money laundering scheme. Her syndicate mainly funneled the stolen funds to scam organizations in China and Hong Kong, involving over tens of millions of dollars.
On September 8th, a 39-year-old Chinese man, Shengsheng He, living in Southern California, was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison for an elaborate transnational fraud operation set up in Cambodia. He was also ordered by the court to compensate victims around $26.87 million.
On August 1st, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced the indictment of individuals involved in the largest illegal marijuana smuggling case in the local history. The case resulted in five deaths, involving counterfeit marijuana products worth over $100 million, seizing over 27 tons of illegal marijuana products. The main suspect, Ted Chien, may face life imprisonment or the death penalty.
On July 19th, federal law enforcement agencies raided a Chinese “underground nightclub” located in a commercial office building in El Monte, Los Angeles. A large quantity of drugs, drug paraphernalia, and thousands of re-encoded gift cards were seized at the scene, suspected to be related to illegal financial fraud. Several illegal immigrants have entered deportation proceedings, most of whom are Chinese citizens.
In March, federal agencies uncovered a $13 million “pig-killing” fraud scheme affecting dozens of people from California, Arizona, and Minnesota. Mingzhi Li, Mingzhi Li, Zeyue Jia, and Jun Shi were the masterminds behind the scheme. The group was involved in a fraudulent scheme that defrauded individuals by creating a fake investment opportunity in the pork industry, convincing victims to invest large sums of money in the fake project, and eventual theft.
On October 21st, California experienced a tragedy: a commercial truck rear-ended a small car on Highway 10, leading to multiple collisions, resulting in three deaths, and several injuries. The driver, an illicit immigrant criminal from India with a history of drug abuse, caused the accident.
Subsequently, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a statement that the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) had illegally issued 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses to “dangerous foreign drivers.” The U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, stated that if California did not revoke all illegally issued commercial driver’s licenses, the federal government would withhold $160 million in funds from California.
Under pressure, California revoked 17,000 illegally issued commercial driver’s licenses. Additionally, the Trump administration tightened regulations on truck drivers. In March, Trump signed an executive order designating English as the official language of the United States and directed the Secretary of Transportation to immediately suspend services for commercial truck drivers who failed English language standards. The policy took effect in late June.
By December 10th, the Secretary of Transportation announced that over 9,500 commercial truck drivers had been ordered to cease operations on U.S. highways due to their inadequate English proficiency.
In the past year, several Chinese individuals admitted guilt or were sentenced for illegally acting as foreign agents of the Chinese Communist Party, aiding the CCP in targeting dissidents or stealing U.S. secrets. Here are a few cases.
On November 17th, Chenguang Gong, a California Bay Area engineer, was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison and fined $100,000 for helping the CCP steal U.S. missile technology business secrets. Gong had repeatedly and voluntarily applied for the Chinese “talent plan.”
On October 27th, Yaoning “Mike” Sun pleaded guilty in a Los Angeles federal court to illegally acting as a Chinese Communist agent. Sun previously served in the Chinese military but later settled in the U.S., becoming active in the Southern California Chinese community. He organized various events to promote the CCP’s agenda, collaborate with the CCP-aligned swindling organizations in the U.S., and facilitate connections between the CCP and elected American officials.
According to court documents, Sun was also a close friend of a politician (referred to as “Individual 1” in the indictment), who had been his election manager in a 2022 campaign for a city council seat in a Chinese city in Southern California. Evidence revealed that this politician was the current Vice Mayor of Arcadia, Eileen Wang, with whom Sun had a close relationship.
Sun also supported the CCP in international crackdowns on dissidents and religious groups, conspiring with convicted Chinese special agent John Chen to promote the CCP agenda in Los Angeles for political gain. The judge is set to sentence Sun in February of the following year, with a maximum penalty of ten years in prison and three years of supervised release, along with a fine of $250,000.
Another case involved a Chinese young man who was encouraged by his mother to traffic information for the CCP. On August 20th, Jinchao Wei, a 25-year-old Chinese Navy sailor, was convicted on six counts related to espionage charges, conspiring to engage in espionage activities, and illegally exporting confidential data on U.S. Navy vessels, facing a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Moreover, California’s community colleges are being inundated with numerous false enrollment applications. Higher education experts believe that California is currently experiencing an unprecedented scale of fraudulent “fake students” and “robots” invasion at their 116 community colleges. Data shows that more than 1.2 million “fake students” applied to community colleges in 2024, accounting for nearly 30% of the total number of new enrollments.
Jeannie Kim, the principal of the Santiago Canyon College, revealed during an interview with California Insider that many of these “fake students” do not attend classes, fail to complete assignments, and even submit the same assignment to different instructors. The school also discovered some “fake students” using artificial intelligence to generate assignments, circumventing the educational system.
Experts believe that the influx of “fake students” is occupying seats that real students need, making it difficult for genuine students to enroll in courses matching their degree requirements. Additionally, the fake students are defrauding federal and state financial aid programs, resulting in substantial losses.
In mid-June, the federal government began social media screenings for applicants of F-1 student visas, J-1 scholar visas, and M-1 vocational student visas. Evidence of activities supporting terrorism or anti-Semitic behavior found on social media platforms would lead to individual applications being denied. Starting December 15th, all applicants for H-1B work visas and H-4 (dependents) visas were officially included in the “online activity screening” list.