Xavier Becerra makes his case for California’s Governor in media briefing

On Wednesday, Xavier Becerra participated in a virtual briefing with the American Community Media to discuss key statewide issues on immigration, healthcare and affordability.

With just days to go until the June 2 primary election, a new poll from the Public Policy Institute of California demonstrates Becerra as the leading gubernatorial candidate, polling at 23%.

Becerra, a former California attorney general and Joe Biden administration cabinet member, has been traveling and speaking to voters throughout the state about his roots and political stances in the final weeks leading up to the primary election.

The candidate is the son of Mexican American immigrants and became the first in his family to go to college. Becerra and his wife, Dr. Carolina Reyes, raised their three girls in Los Angeles and have spent 35 years serving California from the State Assembly to the U.S. Congress, as California’s Attorney General, and the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services.

As a member of Congress, Becerra worked to help pass the Affordable Care Act (ACA), extending coverage to millions of Californians.

As Attorney General, Becerra led the charge against the Trump Administration’s unlawful actions as they threatened individuals' rights and freedoms. Becerra took Trump to court 122 times and won. As the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Becerra lowered Californians’ costs by negotiating down prescription drug prices for the first time in American history.

Now, he’s one of the leading candidates running for governor.

One of the questions that Becerra was asked was how will he protect California's funding while navigating policy disputes and build a coalition with Republican states' legislators to pass the state budgets.

Becerra said that he would fight for the rights of California and also its resources and will not take a knee to anyone. “Remember that California taxpayers send more money to the federal treasury than any other state in the nation, and we deserve to get our fair share of those resources back to work in California,” he said. He also added that he would work with the federal government, California's largest partner. 

“When I was attorney general, the Trump administration tried to force us to do what they're already doing, which is force our law enforcement to join with ICE in doing immigration raids, and we stood up. I said we would not,” Becerra said. “They sued us. We beat them in court. Donald Trump decided to take away $57 million in resources from our law enforcement agencies because they would not participate. We took them to court, and we got our $57 million back. So we will partner with them where we must.”

An immigration-related question focused on what actions he would take as governor to confront the inhumane treatment and conditions faced by migrant children and adults detained in California’s for-profit detention facilities.

“We would take every action we can to move away from having any facilities that are privately owned detention facilities located in California. We only have so much authority on that because the federal government can force its will on us, but we will do everything we can to make sure if there's a facility in California, it meets California standards,” Becerra said.

He added that he would continue to resist the efforts of the federal government to lock up immigrant families who have not been committing crimes. “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,” he said.

He was asked about the Trump administration recently releasing a memo for green card applicants making it harder for those seeking an adjustment of status to remain in the country for the duration of the process. 

Becerra shared his stance on this issue. “Absolutely against it. When I was in Congress, I moved to try to make the process easier and smoother because you're disrupting family. These are people who are on the verge of getting a green card. These are not the criminals. These are not the people that Donald Trump always talks about trying to go after. These are people who are qualifying to be here, which means they have to have a good record,” he answered.

He also said that this proved once again that Trump was never interested in going after “only the criminals and the people who were doing harm in California.”

According to data from the Deportation Data Project at UCLA and UC Berkeley Law, which analyzed Immigration and Customs Enforcement detentions between February 2024 and September 2025, noncriminal Latinos have increasingly become a primary focus of enforcement efforts, despite official claims that policy targets serious offenders.

Becerra was asked about his stance on giving undocumented immigrants the opportunity to have Medi-Cal, as Governor Newsom implemented an enrollment freeze this year for new undocumented adult applicants and reduced certain benefits to address a multi-billion dollar budget deficit.

“I will make sure that when I'm governor, that will be the driving force of my healthcare policy. If you work hard in California, it makes no difference to me where you come from or how long you've been here. If you're working hard, you deserve to have access to the health care that you need, and that means that we will protect those who have health care through the Medi-Cal program, even though Donald Trump cut $1 trillion from the Medicaid program, which is what we call Medi-Cal here in California. We're not going backwards,” Becerra said.

Lastly, the democratic candidate discussed how he would tackle the root causes of housing instability as California continues to have the largest unhoused population in the nation.

“We will continue to work with our cities and counties to make sure that the services for the homeless are expanded to include shelter, healthcare services and job training, and we will do everything we can as a state to ensure that no more Californians join the ranks of the homeless,” he said. “The billions of dollars that the state of California provides our cities and counties will demand accountability to make sure that when a program stands up that it's delivering results, it must have clear outcomes, documented outcomes of helping people leave the streets.”

Becerra also said that if certain programs fail to demonstrate clear results, he would push to shut them down and instead concentrate resources on initiatives that have proven successful and can be expanded effectively.

“I will have direct jurisdiction over helping and ensuring that people do not become homeless and preventing them from ever becoming homeless because it costs so much more money to pick someone off the street, help them stand up, get them cleaned up, get them healthcare services they need and find them temporary shelter. That costs way more money,” he said.

A report, based on the California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness (CASPEH), showcased that 35% of Latino adults are experiencing homelessness, with most of them being younger than the age of 42 years old. It also highlighted that 79% spent most of their nights in unsheltered locations, either outdoors (54%) or in vehicles (26%).

Additionally, one-third (33%) of Latino adults had minor children not currently staying with them; 24% reported being separated from their children because of homelessness.

Becerra said he is going to do everything he can to work with families who are on the verge of being unhoused due to certain reasons and find out what it takes to keep them housed, rather than see them become homeless and spend more money to pull them off the streets. “That's what I will try to do, and I will expand those housing homeless prevention programs.”