SACRAMENTO – Two of the top Democrats in California’s governor’s race are taking heat for their past votes to sponsor and support the state’s immigration law as backlash from the Trump administration’s actions in Minnesota intensified after the shooting of Alex Pretti.
Some Democratic Alliance candidates criticized Rep. Eric Swalwell and Prep. Former Katie Porter voted – in Swalwell’s case, as recently as June – to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and support the work of their agents.
Swalwell (D-Dublin) last year voted in favor of the Republican-sponsored resolution criticizing it an attack that injured at least eight people who were demonstrating in support of the Israeli hostages, one of whom later died, in Boulder, Colo., and expressing “thanks to law enforcement, including US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, for protecting the country.”
He was one of 75 Democrats, including nine from California, to cross the aisle and vote decision.
“The fact that Eric Swalwell stood with MAGA Republicans in Washington to thank ICE while in California undercover ICE agents were terrorizing our communities – despite Swalwell’s poor record of absenteeism from Congress, is a shameful hypocrisy,” Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democratic challenger running for governor, said in a statement.
Swalwell’s campaign dismissed the attack as a “political ploy” for a “hard-hitting” single-digit poll.
“Eric’s vote was a resolution condemning the horrific shooting in Boulder, CO that killed Karen Diamond, an 82-year-old grandmother,” a campaign spokesperson said in a statement. “The truth is that no one has been more critical of ICE than Eric Swalwell.”
This exchange comes at a time when Villaraigosa, Swalwell and other Democrats are running for Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is serving his last year in office, is struggling to distinguish himself in a tight race with no clear front-runner.
In a poll released in December by the Public Policy Institute of California, Porter led the field with support from 21% of likely California voters. He was slightly ahead of former US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and conservative commentator Steve Hilton but was far from the lead.
With the June 2 primary election fast approaching, the conflict between the candidates – especially in the crowded field of Democrats – is expected to intensify, as the front-runners mount a series of attacks.
The Trump administration’s immigration tactics are facing intense political scrutiny after federal agents shot and killed Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse from Minneapolis, during a protest over the weekend.
Pretti was the second American citizen in Minneapolis to be killed by immigration officers in recent weeks. Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother, was shot in the head by an ICE officer Jan. 7. Government officials suspected that it was self-defense when Good drove his car toward the police – a claim that is disputed.
In recent days, Swalwell has said that if elected, he would revoke the driver’s licenses of ICE agents who cover their faces, bar them from government employment and prosecute agents more aggressively for crimes such as kidnapping, assault and murder.
Tony Thurmond, another Democrat who currently serves as California’s top education official, is in the area an online political ad criticized Swalwell’s vote and another written by Porter on bills to fund ICE and Trump’s border wall during his first presidential term.
Porter and Swalwell have joined most Democratic House members in supporting various funding packages in Congress, including billions for a border wall and in at least one case, avoid a government shutdown.
“When others were silent, Katie spoke out boldly against ICE’s lawlessness and demanded accountability,” said Porter campaign spokesman Peter Opitz.
Thurmond’s video revealed his background as a child of immigrants and supported the new law trying to keep federal immigration agents from entering schools, hospitals and other places.
Tom Steyer, a billionaire Democrat and running for governor, said Tuesday he supports ending ICE “as it exists today” and replacing it with “a legal, accountable immigration system based on due process and public safety.”
Republicans blame Democrats and protesters
The two top Republicans running for governor have generally supported Trump’s immigration strategy but did not comment directly on Pretti’s killing over the weekend.
Hilton, a former Fox News anchor, wrote in an email that “every sane person is horrified by the chaos and lawlessness in Minneapolis, and above all the people being killed.”
But he linked the violence to sanctuary policies in Democratic-controlled states and cities, including California, which prohibit local law enforcement from coordinating or assisting with state immigration enforcement.
“The only places we’ve seen this kind of chaos are ‘sanctuary’ cities and counties, where Democrat politicians are whipping people into a frenzy of anti-law enforcement, and putting their own people at risk by telling them — behind the security of their security credentials — to interfere with federal law enforcement,” Hilton said.
The conservative researcher said the “biggest perpetrator” was Newsom, whom Hilton accused of using “disgusting language designed to undermine his base to further his presidential ambitions.”
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s campaign did not respond to questions about the events in Minnesota. Bianco has repeatedly criticized the California state policy but confirmed last year that his department it won’t help with federal immigration raids.
On Sunday, Bianco wrote in X that “Celebrities and talking heads think they understand what it’s like to wear a uniform and make life or death decisions,” apparently referring to the encounter that led to Pretti’s death.
