{"id":257220,"date":"2026-04-08T07:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T07:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/257220\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T07:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T07:26:11","slug":"rep-eric-swalwell-vows-to-constrain-ice-if-elected-california-governor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/257220\/","title":{"rendered":"Rep. Eric Swalwell vows to constrain ICE if elected California governor"},"content":{"rendered":"

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) \u2014 California Rep. Eric Swalwell<\/a> on Tuesday promised to aggressively push back on federal immigration officers if elected governor, vowing to make them ineligible for state jobs and take away their driver\u2019s licenses if they refuse to unmask while on duty.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey think they\u2019re invincible. They\u2019re not,\u201d Swalwell told a large crowd at a town hall in Sacramento, the state capital. He didn\u2019t specify how he\u2019d advance those policies, which would likely face legal challenges.<\/p>\n

The event kicked off a series of campaign functions he\u2019s planned around the state with less than a month to go until mail-in ballots go out to voters ahead of the June 2 primary. Swalwell, a Democrat, is among a crowded field of candidates jostling for advantage in a race in which a small margin could decide who advances to the November general election. The two highest vote-getters advance regardless of party, and Democrats are worried about a possible lock-out<\/a> if no clear front-runner emerges.<\/p>\n

Speaking to a friendly crowd, Swalwell painted himself as a \u201cbattle-tested\u201d fighter in Congress against President Donald Trump. He served as House manager for Trump\u2019s second impeachment trial<\/a> and said he wants to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement and has supported taking away the agency\u2019s funding. Los Angeles was the target of one of the administration\u2019s first large-scale immigration sweeps last summer and the first place where it deployed the National Guard. The position comes after Swalwell faced accusations by some of his Democratic rivals for not taking a strong enough stance against the agency.<\/p>\n

Positioning himself as a labor-friendly and progressive candidate, Swalwell said he wants to address ongoing state budget gaps with a new corporate tax and use state funding to pay for health care for low-income people, including immigrants. He also said he supports letting state employees work remotely, a contentious issue in Sacramento.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will root for the success of anyone who invests and does business in California, if they work with me to lift the wages of hard-working Californians and expand the benefits,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s election marks the first time since voters approved the state\u2019s \u201c top two<\/a> \u201d primary system more than a decade ago that there has been a governor\u2019s race with no dominant candidate. Swalwell is considered among the leading candidates, alongside billionaire Tom Steyer and former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter on the Democratic side. Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host, won Trump\u2019s endorsement<\/a> this week. Sheriff Chad Bianco is another prominent Republican in the contest.<\/p>\n

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Swalwell in recent weeks has emerged as a favorite target<\/a> for fellow Democrats, who have accused him of failing to show up for votes in Congress and questioned whether he actually lives in California. On Tuesday, Swalwell again disputed those criticisms and said he\u2019s \u201cnot going to be distracted.\u201d<\/p>\n

An Iowa native who was elected in 2012 and represents a House district east of San Francisco, Swalwell ran a short-lived presidential campaign<\/a> in 2019.<\/p>\n

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is term-limited, hasn\u2019t endorsed anyone to replace him. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) \u2014 California Rep. Eric Swalwell on Tuesday promised to aggressively push back on federal immigration…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1400,565,7,9,8,28687,536,989,24115,457,18,16640,14,146,13,121,101,17382,25299,6140,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-257220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-2026-elections","9":"tag-ap-top-news","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-california-headlines","12":"tag-california-news","13":"tag-chad-bianco","14":"tag-donald-trump","15":"tag-elections","16":"tag-eric-swalwell","17":"tag-gavin-newsom","18":"tag-general-news","19":"tag-government-budgets","20":"tag-immigration","21":"tag-katie-porter","22":"tag-politics","23":"tag-sacramento","24":"tag-san-francisco","25":"tag-steve-hilton","26":"tag-tom-steyer","27":"tag-u-s-democratic-party","28":"tag-u-s-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}