Swalwell's anti-ICE campaign collides with his past backing of sheriff tied to agency

SAN JOSE, Calif. — As Rep. Eric Swalwell makes keeping federal agents out of California a key tenet of his campaign for governor, the Castro Valley Democrat faces scrutiny for votes supporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as his endorsement of a former Republican Alameda County sheriff who cooperated with ICE.

All eight leading Democrats running to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom have sought to distinguish themselves in the crowded field as they’ve questioned each other’s records on Trump’s intensifying immigration crackdown — with many of those attacks pointed toward Swalwell.

“It’s become a litmus test for a lot of Democrats given what has occurred during this Trump administration,” Democratic political consultant Steven Maviglio said.

A recent Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies Poll found protecting immigrant communities is the third most important issue to Democratic voters in California, behind reducing the cost of living and building more affordable housing.

Swalwell, a former Alameda County prosecutor, built his reputation in Congress as an outspoken critic of Trump, serving as an impeachment manager in the president’s second impeachment trial related to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. At forums, online and in advertisements, he’s vowed to take on ICE as the next governor, pledging to disqualify agents from working for the state and taking away their driver’s license if they refuse to remove masks — a common tactic used by agents looking to conceal their identities.

The congressman, who has led the governor’s race in at least one recent independent poll, served as a marquee endorsement for former Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern’s 2022 failed reelection bid, according to a review of Ahern’s archived campaign site. Swalwell’s campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Ahern, first elected in 2006, faced fierce criticism during the first Trump administration as the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office continued sharing information with ICE long after other Bay Area counties stopped doing so. In 2017, the office shared information with ICE nearly 1,000 times and detained 386 inmates for ICE after their release — an all-time high since the office began collecting data in 2014.

At the time, Ahern said the department provided ICE with advanced notice of when an inmate would be released, gave agents non-public information such as home and work addresses, and dates related to probation and parole check-ins. He also allowed ICE agents access to non-public areas and to interview individuals, according to previous reporting from this news organization.

The office under Ahern was also frequently criticized over the conditions and the number of in-custody deaths at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.

Swalwell and Ahern’s relationship dates back over a decade, a review of the congressman’s social media pages suggests. Swalwell announced that Ahern endorsed his first congressional bid in 2012, when he unseated 40-year incumbent Rep. Pete Stark. Ahern could not be reached for comment.

The 2022 election, in which Swalwell endorsed Ahern, was the first contested race the Republican faced since he became sheriff. Yessenia Sanchez, the current sheriff who unseated Ahern, said during the campaign she would limit the office’s cooperation with ICE to when there is a criminal warrant signed by a judge. Sanchez was endorsed by both the California Democratic Party and the Alameda County Democratic Party. While Swalwell endorsed Ahern, campaign finance records show his congressional account donated $2,500 to Sanchez’s campaign.

Amar Shergill, the Progressive Caucus Chair Emeritus of the California Democratic Party, said Swalwell’s endorsement shows he continued to support Ahern after the sheriff’s connection with ICE was well known.

Raquel Robinson, a spokesperson for former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, one of the eight Democrats running for governor, criticized Swalwell’s endorsement of Ahern, as well as his record.

“For years, Swalwell backed the very policies that empowered ICE, and now he’s running ads trying to condemn it to cover his tracks,” she said. “You don’t get to rewrite your record when it becomes inconvenient.”

Maviglio, the political consultant, said endorsements are rarely based on a single issue, and that Democratic candidates often try to get the backing of law enforcement since the party is “perceived as being weak on crime.” He noted the way the administration uses ICE has changed in its second term.

“It seems like it’s more an endorsement based on personal history rather than policy,” he said.

Swalwell’s opponents, including billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter, have used his record on immigration in attack ads and fundraising emails.

They’ve criticized him for missing a vote on a bill critics say would subject minors living in the country illegally to prolonged detentions and invasive body searches. They’ve also attacked him for supporting a resolution that expressed “gratitude to law enforcement officers, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel, for protecting the homeland” in response to an attack on a pro-Israel demonstration. Swalwell was one of 75 Democrats, nine of whom were from California, who voted in favor of the resolution with the Republican majority.

But while critics of Swalwell’s mount attacks on his record, Dan Morley, an organizer with Indivisible Tri-Valley, said the congressman has been engaged on several local immigration issues. He said Swalwell has been supportive in the fight to oppose a proposal to reopen the closed FCI Dublin women’s prison as a detention center and has helped a Livermore father who was deported last year during a routine immigration check-in at the ICE San Francisco office.

Swalwell’s past support of Ahern doesn’t surprise Morley, given the congressman’s father was in law enforcement. Plus, he said, elected officials can “change their stances over time.”

“He’s offered his local office in Castro Valley to be kind of a sanctuary if anybody is in need of legal help,” Morley said of Swalwell. “He’s been very proactive in reaching out to constituents to be supportive (on immigration issues).”