Gavin Newsom secured $500,000 private donation for anti-ICE, defund police group: report

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) personally pushed a private foundation to donate $500,000 to an anti-ICE group that also supports defunding the police, according to a report from the Washington Free Beacon, citing state records.
 

According to the outlet, the payment was cited in the "behested payments" database in California for its report. The database's role is to track whenever state officials solicit donations on behalf of a third party, increasing transparency in the state's government.

The $500,000 donation was made to the Immigrant Defenders Law Center in 2023. The center's services include a bond fund to get illegal immigrants out of federal custody. The bond fund was started on June 7, which was just one day after the anti-ICE riots began this year in LA.

Newsom, who has been floated as a potential contender in the 2028 presidential election, appeared to cast himself as a moderate, making comments such as that he thinks it is "unfair" when trans-identified males play in women's sports, breaking with progressive Democrats.

Pushing for the donation, however, indicates a more left-wing policy priorities from the California governor. In a recent interview on the Shawn Ryan show, he said he "got a lot of sh*t" when he "closed a loophole" to help police coordinate with ICE on the arrest of illegal immigrants in San Francisco as mayor in 2004. He said that he was "happy to advocate for eliminating sanctuary policy" at the time.

However, during his 2018 campaign, per the Beacon, he took a different tact, and apologized for reporting felonies committed by juvenile illegal immigrants to ICE.