California Governor Candidates Denounce ICE at San Francisco Forum

Democratic candidates for California governor had harsh words for the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown on Monday, after a Border Patrol officer shot and killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis over the weekend.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa compared masked federal agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to “the Ku Klux Klan coming in with assault weapons [and] flash-bang grenades.” Investor Tom Steyer called the operation “a threat to America.” And, if elected governor, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond promised to “get rid of ICE.”

The vows of resistance came at a candidate forum in San Francisco, sponsored by the Urban League of the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, a civil rights organization. The Trump administration’s aggressive deportation agenda is likely to remain a flashpoint between the White House and whoever wins the wide-open race to become California’s next governor.

In Minnesota, federal officials have refused to partner with state agencies to investigate the killings of Pretti and Renee Good, who was shot by a federal agent earlier this month.

“We need a governor who will stand up and inspire people to fight back,” Villaraigosa said. “Not just in the courts, not just at the ballot box, we need to build a nonviolent movement and a governor who can support the effort that all of you have to lead.”

Candidates in the crowded field have spent months attempting to balance agendas centered on resistance to President Donald Trump — while also presenting solutions to the issues California voters have prioritized, such as housing affordability.

In response to a question about public safety, Steyer said the immigration agents in Minneapolis were an example of “how not to police.”

“What does that look like? It looks like people from outside of the community with no accountability, where you can’t even see who they are, where they’re not wearing a camera and where they have impunity to treat citizens however they want, however violently,” he said.

Candidates spent much of the panel responding to the findings of a new Urban League survey of Black Bay Area residents, in which 59% of respondents said they were struggling to deal with the cost of housing, bills and food.

Thurmond, the lone Black candidate among the leading contenders, was the only candidate at Monday’s forum to voice support for reparations for Black Californians.

The movement for reparations at the state Capitol, which was buoyed by the creation of a task force to study the issue in 2020, appears to have stalled. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a handful of reparations bills that would have allowed the descendants of enslaved people to receive preference in university admissions, business licenses and loans for first-time homebuyers.

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, who endorsed Thurmond on Monday morning, closed the forum by asking the candidates to detail their first action “to ensure that African Americans and people of color and marginalized communities can thrive economically?”

“I will sign as governor a reparations package that gives loans to Black folks who want to start a business, to go to college or to pay for a home,” Thurmond said. “Because having a home is the American Dream. It is slipping away, and we have to close the gap of disparity.”

The Urban League survey, which polled 400 people living in the Bay Area, revealed three top policy priorities for Black residents: housing affordability and homeownership, homelessness and inflation/cost of living.

Those results mirrored the findings of a recent Public Policy Institute of California poll that found “cost of living/economy/inflation” and “housing costs/housing availability” as the top two issues for residents statewide.

Former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter said she would focus on lowering the costs of housing and child care. Former Attorney General Xavier Becerra promised to freeze utility and property insurance rates.

Betty Yee, the state’s former controller, said she would permanently fund city-led initiatives to reduce homelessness, while former San Gabriel Valley Assemblymember Ian Calderon proposed a fee on corporate real estate investors.

Porter has sat atop most public polling alongside three candidates who were not at Monday’s event: Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat, and two Republicans — Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and commentator and businessman Steve Hilton. But large swaths of the electorate remain undecided.

Urban League of Greater San Francisco Bay Area President Kenneth E. Maxey II told KQED that candidates must confront the reality that the state’s powerful economy — the fourth-largest in the world as measured by gross domestic product — is not working for all residents.

“They were able to articulate their commitment and their desire to help and make sure that this economy involves everyone,  in particular for today, the African American population,” he said.