Billionaire Tom Steyer, who is running for California governor, has vowed to completely abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the state and arrest agents who he claimed use racial bias in enforcing the law.

Steyer, the leading Democratic candidate in the gubernatorial race, outlined an immigration plan in his April 15 article, “How California Can Put ICE in Jail,” on Substack.

“It’s not enough for Democrats to simply engage in rhetoric and ‘stand’ against ICE or [President Donald] Trump. California must build a system that fights fire with fire,” Steyer wrote.

He accused ICE of “acting like a criminal organization, carrying out indiscriminate racial profiling and using violence, intimidation, terrorism, and the murder of Americans to extend Trump’s rule by fear.”

Steyer has gained momentum in the gubernatorial race since disgraced Democrat Eric Swalwell dropped out on April 12 amid sexual misconduct allegations and resigned from Congress on April 13.

Republican candidate Steve Hilton, whom Trump endorsed, dismissed Steyer’s plan as “insanity” and a continuation of President Joe Biden’s immigration policy.

“This is far-left extremism beyond anything we saw during the Biden years. It’s an extension of the Biden open-borders agenda on the home front,” Hilton said in an April 15 statement. “He is calling for federal agents to be targeted on the streets and thrown in jail for enforcing the law. That is incitement. It puts a target on the backs of the men and women in uniform and empowers the most radical anti-government extremists.”

Hilton said he would work with federal immigration enforcement to ensure “laws are peacefully enforced,” if he is elected governor in November.

Gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton said he wants to "make California golden again" during a campaign event in Huntington Beach, Calif., on April 22, 2025. (Courtesy of Steve Hilton for Governor)

ICE did not respond to an inquiry before publication time.

Democrats have a strong slate of candidates—from congressmembers to statewide elected officials and mayors—running to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom, who can’t run again after serving eight years.

Hilton’s Republican challenger Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco has been endorsed by multiple county Republican parties, officials, and organizations within the state.

California’s primary allows the top two “voter-nominated” candidates from any party to move on to the general election.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who left office in 2011, was the last Republican governor of California. Since then, the Democrats have held a supermajority in the state.

Jill McLaughlin contributed to this report.