Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) recently launched his campaign for California governor, blowing past the already crowded Democratic field and quickly emerging as the frontrunner.
And that’s despite some cringy campaign videos and his really low politicization of former Sen. Ben Sasse’s cancer diagnosis.
Now Swalwell is raising eyebrows yet again, not because of an ill-timed bodily function or faux pas, but because he’s pledging that if elected governor of California, he would arrest ICE officers and revoke their driver’s licenses.
Appearing on MS NOW’s All In, Swalwell announced his plan.
“What would you do if you are able to be elected as governor of California?” asked host Jason Johnson. “What would you bring to the table as a governor of California?”
“Well, you have immense powers as governor of California and your responsibility to protect the most vulnerable in the state,” Swalwell began. “So if the president is going to send ICE agents to chase immigrants through the fields where they work, what I’m going to do is make sure that they take off their masks and show their faces, that they show their identification.”
“And if they commit crimes," he continued, "that they’re going to be charged with crimes. If it’s falsely imprisoning people, if it’s kidnapping, if it’s assault, battery, they’re going to be held accountable. I also think, if the governor has the ability to issue driver’s licenses to people in California, if you’re going to wear a mask and not identify yourself, you’re not going to be eligible to drive a vehicle in California.”
He concluded, “There’s a lot you can do, but most importantly, you have to go on offense. Otherwise, the most vulnerable in our community will always be on defense.”
OUTRAGEOUS!
— Conservative Brief (@ConservBrief) December 31, 2025
Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell promises that if elected Governor of California he will ARREST ICE Agents for "kidnapping" and "assault" while also taking away their driver's licenses:
"If they commit crimes they're gonna be charged with crimes... they're gonna be held… pic.twitter.com/O4dItHJlQT
Setting aside the constitutional problems with arresting ICE agents for enforcing federal immigration law, can we step back a moment and consider the fact that Swalwell is literally saying that ICE agents should have their driver’s licenses revoked for doing their job? What makes this proposal even more absurd is the fact that California is one of the states in the country that will issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.
In Swalwell’s California, illegal immigrants can drive legally, but ICE agents doing their job won’t be able to.
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Now, of course, what Swalwell is proposing is blatantly unconstitutional.
“In case it matters to anyone left in California, he cannot do this. Seizing federal agents sort of went out of constitutional style after the Civil War. The ‘immense powers as governor of California’ do not include dictating what federal officers can wear on their faces or bodies,” Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley explained. “The first tiny barrier to Swalwell’s antebellum policies is the Supremacy Clause, which prevents states from ‘interfering with or controlling the operations of the Federal Government.’ United States v. Washington (2022). Since McCulloch v. Maryland in 1819, the Supreme Court has consistently struck down state laws that impede federal enforcement.”
Turley added, “Moreover, immunity under the Supremacy Clause (Article VI, Clause 2) bars criminally charging officials who are properly carrying out their lawful federal duties. For example, in 1890, the Supreme Court ruled In re Neagle that a U.S. Marshal had immunity when a state tried to charge him with murder after he shot and killed an individual attacking a justice.”
Of course, Democrats don’t care about the Constitution, and it won’t stop Swalwell from trying. Frankly, the bigger problem here is that the far left base is completely divorced from the mainstream, but their influence over the party is so strong that Swalwell is literally running on this insane idea.
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