California Governor Gavin Newsom funneled influence and money through recently behested payments, directing $500,000 in 2023 to a group that backs defunding police and freeing illegal immigrants from ICE custody. According to state records, Newsom personally asked the James Irvine Foundation to send the funds to the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef), a group that publicly declared it was “joining the calls to dismantle the police state by defunding and decreasing police budgets.”
The payment went through shortly after anti-ICE riots erupted in Los Angeles. ImmDef launched its Detained Immigrant Bond Fund one day after the riots, offering a way to post bond for illegal immigrants in federal custody. Despite his public shift in tone, Newsom’s behind-the-scenes actions reveal ties to radical policies he now calls “lunacy.”
In March, Newsom told Charlie Kirk that the “defund the police” movement was “lunacy.” Yet records show he actively backed a group demanding, in its own words, that “it’s high time we abolish the immigration prison system and abolish ICE.” Newsom’s office refused to comment when pressed about the payment.
The governor has a long record of recently behested payments, including $110,000 in 2024 to another pro-illegal immigration group and millions more to nonprofits linked to his wife. The lawsuit against the Trump administration over a casino dispute also highlights how Newsom leveraged behested donations to benefit political allies.
