CALIFORNIA — Xavier Becerra is the frontrunner in the race for California governor and has taken a strong stance against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) enforcement actions. He has drawn a distinction between deporting undocumented immigrants with criminal records and those without.

"These are not the criminals. These are not the people that Donald Trump always talks about trying to go after," Becerra said. He added that the Trump administration’s policies proved President Trump was never truly focused on deporting only those causing harm in California.

Becerra has avoided taking a clear position on whether taxpayer-funded legal aid should be used to protect undocumented immigrants with serious criminal records from deportation. While California law prohibits state funds from being used for legal defense of immigrant felons, the law lacks a reliable enforcement mechanism.

During his tenure as state attorney general, Becerra partnered with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), which has received more than $146 million in California taxpayer funds over the past decade. The ILRC markets legal strategies to mitigate the immigration consequences of criminal convictions, including guidance on reopening deportation cases based on court rulings that reclassify certain offenses.

State-funded organizations such as the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) and affiliates of UnidosUS—groups with long-standing ties to Becerra—have received tens of millions in public funding. CHIRLA, which Becerra has called "my family," uses state funds for legal aid, protest organizing, and alerting undocumented immigrants to ICE raids. Its political arm has endorsed Becerra’s gubernatorial campaign.

California has directed at least $1 billion in taxpayer grants and contracts to over 80 nonprofits serving undocumented immigrants under Governor Gavin Newsom. At least $100 million of that has gone to legal aid groups that operate under a "merits-blind" policy, offering services regardless of a client’s criminal history.

Becerra pledged that California would not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, stating, "We will do everything we can to make sure that we show the federal government that we're not participating in their ICE raids and their ICE actions." His campaign and the ILRC did not respond to questions about whether state funds support efforts to challenge deportation orders for individuals with criminal records.