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 has 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 Substack article, “How California Can Put ICE in Jail.”

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

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.

According to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, Steyer should be thanking ICE for removing dangerous criminals from California, “NOT vilifying law enforcement.”

“These are disgusting proposals just meant to demonize our officers who are experiencing a highly coordinated campaign of violence against our law enforcement,” the spokesperson said in an email to The Epoch Times.

“Allegations that [Department of Homeland Security] law enforcement engages in ‘racial profiling’ are disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE, [and ICE removes] criminal illegal aliens, including murderers, rapists, and gang members from our communities,” the spokesperson wrote.

Officers are facing a 1,300 percent increase in assaults against them, a 3,300 percent increase in vehicular attacks, and an 8,000 percent increase in death threats, the spokesperson wrote.

Republican candidate Steve Hilton, whom President Donald Trump has 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,“ Hilton said in an April 15 statement. ”It’s an extension of the Biden open-borders agenda on the home front. 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 that “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)

Democrats have a strong slate of candidates—from members of Congress to statewide elected officials and mayors—running to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom, who cannot 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.

Former 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.