Testimonials from leaders and activists at CHIRLA and CARECEN highlighted the honesty, humility, and experience of the Latino candidate; they acknowledge that the New York-born billionaire seeks to “buy” power with his money. Steyer has invested millions in CoreCivic, a private immigrant detention company.
Immigrant rights activists have condemned the “false ads and lies” of billionaire Tom Steyer, who is utilizing misleading claims originally made by President Donald Trump—claims alleging that the then-Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Xavier Becerra, mishandled the reunification of thousands of immigrant families and unaccompanied minors.
These attacks come as Becerra has positioned himself as one of the top contenders heading into the June 2 primary election, holding 33% of the vote intention, just two percentage points behind Steyer. Steyer has already spent over $130 million, leading voters to believe he is attempting to “buy” the California governorship.
According to Angélica Salas, Chair of the Board of Directors of the CHIRLA Action Fund, Steyer’s advertisements recycle the misleading claims made by Trump—claims asserting that then-Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Xavier Becerra, mishandled the reunification of thousands of immigrant families and unaccompanied minors.
“It is deeply irresponsible for Tom Steyer and other gubernatorial candidates to recycle the same harmful and discredited arguments that Donald Trump used to attack Xavier Becerra’s work during his tenure as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Biden administration,” she said.
“Using Trump’s lies weaponizes the suffering of migrant children for the sake of political gain; it distorts the truth and undermines the real work that many undertook to dismantle the inhumane, hardline policies implemented by Donald Trump during his first term,” Salas stated.
“The truth is that Tom Steyer built the prisons; Trump filled them; and Becerra worked for years to dismantle them—and for decades to protect immigrant families and California’s most vulnerable residents,” the activist said.
“At a time when our communities need leadership grounded in facts, compassion, and accountability, Steyer’s political attacks echo the very rhetoric we have worked so hard to reject here in California.” emphasized Angelica Salas. “We demand that Tom Steyer put an end to the lies immediately.”
Trump—along with border czar Tom Homan and Republican lawmakers—has made misleading assertions and misrepresented government data ever since they began claiming that more than 300,000 unaccompanied children had gone “missing” during the Joe Biden administration.
They did so after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a report in August 2024 revealing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had failed to issue Notices to Appear in court to 291,000 children between fiscal year 2019 and May 2024.
Furthermore, 32,000 unaccompanied children failed to appear for their immigration court hearings between fiscal years 2019 and 2023.
It is worth noting that half of this period elapsed while Trump held the presidency. The report did not specify the number of children who missed their court hearings under each respective administration.
In early 2026, the Trump administration itself reported that those 300,000 unaccompanied minors were either of unknown whereabouts or had been released to unverified sponsors during the Biden administration. According to the DHS, by January 2026, the Trump administration had located more than 132,720 unaccompanied minors whose whereabouts had previously been untraceable.
In addition to Salas, Martha Arévalo—Executive Director of the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN)—and Sergio Rascón—President of Laborers’ International Union of America (LIUNA Local 300)—reaffirmed their support for Xavier Becerra, a Latino candidate for the governorship of California.
“Our support for Xavier Becerra as [a candidate for] governor is truly significant and represents real change,” Arévalo said. “It is ironic that the person now accusing Xavier Becerra—claiming that he was an instrument in the separation of families—is someone who profited at the expense of the cruelty, separation, and detention of these families.
Who is this ‘Steyer’ fellow? He has never been part of our community; he has never been an advocate for immigrants. On the contrary, Xavier Becerra is the son of immigrants. For him, this issue is personal. He understands the suffering of immigrant families.”
The activist recalled that, during the Trump administration, thousands of children were separated from their sponsors, their relatives, and their caregivers, enduring deplorable conditions in detention centers.
She added that when Becerra took the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services, they worked closely with his office and collaborated regularly to reunite detained children with their families and sponsors.
“The messages you see on television are pure lies.” “We worked—and have continued to work—with him [Becerra] throughout his various government roles to protect as many immigrant families as possible,” she added.
Steyer’s Investment in a Company That Detains Immigrants
Arévalo asserted that, as Latino leaders and voters, “we are smart enough not to be fooled by these lies propagated by someone who is an opportunist, who profited at the expense of our community’s suffering, and who parrots Trump’s lies.”
Indeed, Steyer—through Farallon Capital Management, the San Francisco-based hedge fund he co-founded and led for 26 years (until 2012)—invested heavily in Corrections Corporation of America (now known as CoreCivic), the country’s largest private prison company, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
As records show, the hedge fund acquired 53,100 shares of CCA—valued at approximately $1.89 million—during the first quarter of 2004. A year later, under Steyer’s leadership, Farallon increased its stake to 5.5 percent of CCA’s outstanding shares—totaling 2.27 million shares—valued at $90 million.
As of early 2026, CoreCivic—the company in which Steyer invested—detains more than 16,000 immigrants on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), representing an increase of 60 percent compared to figures from late 2025. The company operates 16 immigrant detention centers and has offered an additional 13,000 beds, signaling significant growth in its immigrant detention capacity, as reported by *The Appeal*.
“As Latino voters, we must ensure that we convey the truth to everyone: we were there,” …on the front lines of action, and we work shoulder to shoulder with Xavier Becerra to ensure the best possible protection for our families,” Arevalo added.
“Paying for Power”
Sergio Rascón, business manager for the Los Angeles-based Workers Union Local 300, said he was surprised by the “dirty war” playing out in commercials—one Democratic candidate attacking another from his own party.
“Steyer saw him as someone who is on the rise—someone who emerged immediately after Congressman [Eric] Swalwell stepped down.”
Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA) resigned from Congress on April 14, 2026, following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and assault, including accusations made by a former staff member. He had previously withdrawn from the California gubernatorial race due to the scandal. His resignation came in the wake of an investigation by the House Ethics Committee and threats of expulsion.
“I’ve always wondered why a millionaire—or in this case, a billionaire—would seek a job as a public servant or community servant, when they already have everything,” the labor leader questioned. “The answer I was given is that the rich want to get richer, and they use the position to obtain other things.”
Rascón clarified that he was not in a position to accuse anyone, “but I still don’t understand why they get involved in something that isn’t easy—something where they don’t even know if they’ll be able to do the job right, or if they’ll be able to give the people what they deserve,” he said. “They should not be there. Yet, they pursue it; they spend a fortune to secure a job they do not need—aside from the power… If I were a millionaire, on the contrary, I would stay out of it. There are those who seek power simply because they can afford to pay for it.”
No Response to Immigration Investments
Some Latino leaders at the CHIRLA’s press conference said that Tom Steyer launched a “dirty campaign” of attacks against Xavier Becerra, who allegedly mishandled the reunification of thousands of immigrant families and unaccompanied minors.
“Journalists, fellow Democrats, and his cabinet peers have all gone on record saying Becerra failed migrant children as HHS secretary. With stakes this high, California families cannot afford to trust his leadership or someone who refuses to be accountable or take responsibility, especially when it comes to protecting our kids.” said Ariana Andrade from Steyer for Governor.
However, the Steyer campaign declined to comment on whether the billionaire candidate for Governor is “pretending to buy” power in California with his money.
Meanwhile, Steyer’s representative did not respond to a request for comment on instances in which Mr. Steyer invested millions through Farallon Capital Management in Corrections Corporation of America (now CoreCivic), the country’s largest private prison company, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Neither did they say anything about how Mr. Steyer would get the Latino voters once they discovered his investments in immigration.
At this point in the California governor’s race, there are only two Democrats with a strong chance of winning. So the time has come for California’s Democratic voters to choose whether they want Tom Steyer, a billionaire with no elected government executive experience buying his way into power, or Xavier Becerra, a proven defender of the environment and health care, with a history of acting on those priorities in ways that support the common person.
Due in no small part to the nearly $200 million of his own money that Steyer has spent on his campaign, there are a lot of claims and accusations floating about, and we need to separate the substance from the chatter.
Yes, Becerra’s campaign has accepted some corporate contributions, but his actions as a public official have prioritized ordinary people over monied private interests. In any fair appraisal of his record, you’ll see a man who has spent decades in high-level executive positions, making the difficult judgements that a billionaire like Steyer with no elected executive experience is not competent to decide or even comprehend.
Indeed, Steyer’s lack of any history as an elected public official leaves us to depend on mere promises made in his platform, along with a list of endorsements from groups that at least in some cases have been direct or indirect beneficiaries of his many philanthropic endeavors. One of his endorsers, for example, the NRDC and its affiliates, has received major TomKat Charitable Trust funding, including million-dollar grants.
Steyer’s long record of funding progressive and environmental causes is, in many respects, admirable. But it also complicates the meaning of endorsements from organizations within that same advocacy world. Even where there is no direct contribution to an endorsing organization, there may be relationships, affiliated recipients, shared campaigns, or reasonable expectations of future benefit. Such endorsements may therefore tell us more about Steyer’s role as a major donor and movement patron than they do about his likely performance as governor. That does not make the endorsements illegitimate, but it does mean they should not be treated as entirely detached third-party judgments. They may reflect genuine policy alignment, but also long-standing relationships in the environmental advocacy world.
Becerra, by contrast, has an actual record, so we don’t have to rely upon third parties to attest to his good intentions and abilities. At the heart of his environmental history is the Bureau of Environmental Justice he created as California’s Attorney General. This enforcement arm of the AG was assigned to the task of protecting low-income communities from being dumped on by polluting corporate miscreants. Becerra’s record is not merely that he gave money to environmental causes or posted a high-minded platform statement. He used public executive authority to build functioning legal infrastructure inside the California Department of Justice for the defense of the environment and impacted populations.
That distinction is especially important when considering the environment as a public health issue. Other candidates may also talk about pollution, climate, and public health, and some of them may be sincere. But Becerra advocated for that connection from actual elected and appointed executive positions. As California Attorney General, he linked environmental enforcement to the protection of vulnerable communities. And as Secretary of Health and Human Services, his tenure brought the creation of the federal Office of Climate Change and Health Equity, an office built around the recognition that climate change and pollution are direct threats to human health.
That federal office was quickly targeted and effectively dismantled after the Trump administration returned to power, beginning with day-one orders aimed at eliminating environmental justice and equity offices and followed by the removal of the office from HHS’s public presence. But the mission did not disappear. California still has institutions dedicated to climate change and health equity, including public health programs focused on protecting vulnerable communities from heat, smoke, pollution, and other climate-related health threats. As governor, Becerra would be unusually well positioned to strengthen those California-based institutions and defend their mission against a hostile federal executive branch. His background litigating against the first Trump administration makes him a natural fit for that job.
During Trump’s first term, Becerra was California’s first line of legal defense, filing over 120 lawsuits to protect California’s sovereignty and public welfare. A large portion of those legal battles were in defense of the environment, including fights over vehicle emission standards, methane pollution, endangered species protections, public lands, offshore drilling, and oil and gas development. He did not just express his differences with Trump’s environment-destroying policies; he persistently challenged them through actual litigation.
His record on oil drilling reveals his priorities. Becerra opposed the Trump administration’s effort to open California’s coast to new offshore drilling and warned that California would go to court if necessary to protect its coastline. He also challenged federal moves that would have opened more than a million acres of public lands and their mineral resources in Central California to oil and gas drilling and fracking. In Kern County, his office opposed the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed sale of seven oil and gas leases covering more than 4,000 acres. These were concrete legal and administrative actions, not mere slogans.
These measures supporting public health by maintaining a healthy environment dovetail with Becerra’s plans to revolutionize California’s health care system. Drawing on what he learned as the head of HHS, he has promised to make California the first state to achieve genuine universal healthcare. His plan will force providers to compete for the state’s business, thus lowering prescription drug costs and expanding coverage to include every resident.
And when Becerra says he intends to “build toward” a universal single-payer system, that reflects an honest appraisal of the real political context. A hostile Trump administration will almost certainly block the federal cooperation or waivers needed for a state-level single-payer system to become fully operational during Trump’s term. But that does not mean California cannot prepare the architecture now and be ready to move when a more favorable federal administration replaces him. Becerra’s first term as governor would extend beyond Trump’s, which means California could still fulfill Becerra’s stated goal that during his term California will become the first state to implement universal single-payer health care.
To address the state’s housing shortfall, Becerra proposes treating the state’s backlog of approved but unfunded affordable-housing projects as an urgent production target, using tools such as bond measures, state subsidies, and public-private partnerships to close final funding gaps and move nearly 40,000 stalled units toward construction. These homes can and should be built. The issue cannot be solved by mere rhetoric; it requires the state to step in with the financing and coordination needed to move approved projects from paper to reality.
Becerra plans to aggressively promote the enormous structural investment required to convert to green electric power. But his platform also requires that utilities share the burden of building out the electrical grid, rather than passing the entire cost along to consumers in their monthly billings.
Unlike his unschooled opponent, Becerra’s experience at both the state and federal levels uniquely qualifies him to pursue positive state-level programs while protecting the state from attacks by a hostile federal executive. Becerra has managed the California Department of Justice and the largest federal department in the country, Health and Human Services. He will hit the ground running while Steyer would be trying to run the world’s fourth-largest economy with nothing but an army of campaign consultants and celebrity endorsers.
This is a moment that calls for California to shine for the rest of the nation, while defending itself from attacks by a destructive and ignorant federal regime. Becerra has the skills and experience to lead on both of those fronts.