Tom Steyer Unveils Bold Immigration Reform Plan in California Governor Bid

Billionaire and activist Tom Steyer has unveiled a controversial proposal calling for the imprisonment of ICE agents and the abolition of the agency. This stance comes despite his hedge fund’s considerable $90 million investment in the company operating California’s largest immigration detention center.

Steyer introduced his plan, provocatively titled “How California Can Put ICE in Jail,” on the social media platform X on Tuesday afternoon. Through this plan, he amplified his previous calls to dismantle the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, equating its actions to those of a criminal enterprise.

“Democrats need to go beyond rhetoric and mere opposition to ICE or former President Trump,” Steyer asserted. “California should establish a system that combats aggressive actions with equally strong measures.”

To address this, Steyer outlined a strategy to confront ICE similar to tactics used against organized crime. His comprehensive five-point plan includes prohibiting racial discrimination by ICE agents, empowering the state Attorney General to hold ICE leadership accountable, and creating a specialized unit to enforce laws related to ICE operations.

The plan also emphasizes bolstering legal defenses for immigrants and launching a statewide campaign to increase public awareness of immigrants’ legal rights. Steyer’s approach aims to fundamentally reshape immigration enforcement in California.

He laid out a five-point plan that includes a ban on racial discrimination by ICE agents, authority to the state Attorney General to hold ICE leadership accountable, a special unit dedicated towards enforcing ICE-related laws, more legal defense for immigrants, and he’ll launch a statewide public awareness campaign aimed at raising awareness for immigrants’ legal rights.

Steyer says President Donald Trump has turned ICE “into a criminal enterprise.”

“Trump has turned ICE into a criminal enterprise, so let’s treat it as such. As governor, I’ll go after ICE the way Eliot Ness and Joe Friday went after the Mob: bring them to justice by using their most basic crimes against them. For the Mob it was racketeering; for ICE it’s racial discrimination,” he wrote.

“On my watch, California will protect the most vulnerable and bring to justice those who break the law and brutalize our neighbors. We’ll let ICE know: in California, you obey our laws and respect our residents, or you go to jail,” he added.

The specific priorities aimed at ICE come despite Steyer’s past involvement with what he now calls a “criminal enterprise.”

Steyer founded a hedge fund named Farallon Capital Management in 1986. Under his management, the fund put money into CoreCivic, which runs private prisons. Farallon’s shares in the company was valued at $89.1 million at one point.

And two of the prisons that CoreCivic runs include two facilities that house people detained by federal immigration agents — one near San Diego and another in Kern County.

The progressive billionaire said it was a “mistake” to invest into the company.

“We never had anything to do with running the company,” Steyer said. “But it was a mistake to think that that was a place where it was decent to make money.”

He said his involvement with the company led him to walking away from the hedge fund industry.

“It was also a big wake-up call that I was in the wrong place, that I was in a business that was taking me to places I absolutely didn’t want to go,” Steyer said at a March town hall. “And there’s a reason I walked away from that business and walked away from a ton of money.”

Steyer is one of several prominent Democrats jockeying for position in the aftermath of former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s exit from the race.

With Swalwell’s exit, he’s considered one of the Democratic frontrunners alongside former Rep. Katie Porter, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Trump-endorsed Steve Hilton is considered the top Republican in the race with Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco trailing him.

A recent SurveyUSA poll showed Steyer in the lead with 21% support with Hilton at 18% while Bianco and Porter are tied at 8%.

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