{"id":46293,"date":"2026-01-25T12:19:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T20:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=46293"},"modified":"2026-01-25T12:19:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T20:19:03","slug":"eric-swalwell-says-california-should-withhold-jobs-and-drivers-licenses-from-ice-agents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/01\/25\/eric-swalwell-says-california-should-withhold-jobs-and-drivers-licenses-from-ice-agents\/","title":{"rendered":"Eric Swalwell says California should withhold jobs and driver\u2019s licenses from ICE agents"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By\u00a0Sara DiNatale<\/a>, Staff Writer Jan 23, 2026 (SFChronicle.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gift Article<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Eric Swalwell, seen on Jan. 22, 2026, has proposed restricting driver\u2019s licenses for ICE agents and banning them from state jobs in California.Mark Schiefelbein\/Associated Press<\/em><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Democrats across the country face calls to rein in abuses of power by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Bay Area Rep. Eric Swalwell has proposed sweeping and aggressive measures to target officers, including by barring them from obtaining driver\u2019s licenses or working in state government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swalwell, D-Castro Valley, who is running for governor, in the last week has had increasingly harsh words for ICE and the Trump administration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swalwell joined the other 42 Democrats in California\u2019s House delegation on Thursday to oppose a bill that could send billions of dollars in funding to ICE. The bill passed, but faces a steeper climb in the U.S. Senate. He has made his opposition to President Donald Trump central to his pitch in the governor\u2019s race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce you shoot a mom in the face three times who has stuffies in her glove compartment and Cheerios, not a weapon, not a knife \u2026 and you claim that you were justified? Forget it,\u201d Swalwell told CNN Thursday, referring to the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this month. \u201cNo one asked for this. ICE as it exists today needs to be completely dismantled.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swalwell already floated restricting driver\u2019s licenses for ICE agents in California a few days before Good was shot multiple times inside her SUV while attempting to navigate around ICE officers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swalwell told MS Now, previously MSNBC, earlier this month that ICE agents who conceal their identities behind masks would not be eligible to drive in California under his leadership. California lawmakers last year passed a bill preventing ICE officers from concealing their faces with masks in most instances, but the law is on hold pending a Trump administration lawsuit. A ruling on whether the state can enforce the law as the lawsuit makes its way through the legal process is due any day.

Swalwell doubled down on targeting agents\u2019 licenses following Good\u2019s death and the continued immigration enforcement crackdown in Minnesota, which has ensnared U.S. citizens, immigrants currently going through the legal process of obtaining citizenship and residents exercising their right to protest. During a nonpartisan candidate forum at the Annual Empower Congress Summit in Los Angeles Jan. 17, Swalwell said again that ICE agents would not be able to drive in California if they hid their faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will take their driver\u2019s licenses,\u201d he said from a crowded stage shared with seven other candidates. \u201cGood luck walking to work, a\u2013holes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he\u2019d also direct state and local law enforcement to use \u201cevery power to prosecute\u201d agents for charges of battery, false imprisonment and murder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week, Swalwell went a step further and vowed to make ICE agents \u201cunhireable\u201d in California. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs governor, I\u2019ll use my emergency power to tell every state agency we are not, as a policy, hiring ICE agents,\u201d he told Katie Phang on her show on Tuesday. \u201cIt\u2019s part of an approach that says either we can be on our heels as the most vulnerable in our community or we can make them react and go on offense.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jan 23, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sara DiNatale<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staff writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sara DiNatale covers politics and the impacts of the Trump administration\u2019s policies on the Bay Area. She joined the Chronicle in 2025, after a decade reporting across the southern United States.

She was the recipient of a 2024 George Polk Award for her investigation on the Texas residential solar industry as an energy reporter at the San Antonio Express-News. Her investigation led Texas to adopt new state laws to regulate bad actors and scammers. She spent several years covering business, retail, the economy and labor at the Tampa Bay Times and Mississippi Today. Her reporting has been recognized by a series of state-level and national awards, including top honors from the Headliner Foundation, Best of the West and Bill Minor Prize for Investigative Reporting. She\u2019s a graduate of the University at Buffalo and a native of Western New York.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Sara DiNatale, Staff Writer Jan 23, 2026 (SFChronicle.com) Gift Article Rep. Eric Swalwell, seen on Jan. 22, 2026, has proposed restricting driver\u2019s licenses for ICE agents and banning them from state jobs in California.Mark Schiefelbein\/Associated Press As Democrats across the country face calls to rein in abuses of power by… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46293"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46293"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46295,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46293\/revisions\/46295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}