Who is Tom Steyer? Anti-ICE billionaire in CA governor’s race faces scrutiny over detention investments

Billionaire investor Tom Steyer is positioning himself as a critic of elites and immigration enforcement in California’s governor’s race — even as his own record, including investments in private prisons tied to ICE detention, draws scrutiny.

That tension is surfacing on the campaign trail, with Democratic rival Rep. Katie Porter highlighting Steyer’s past $90 million investment in a private prison firm tied to ICE facilities, while Republican candidates cast his immigration platform as extreme.

Steyer made his fortune overseeing Farallon Capital, a $20 billion hedge fund that invested in coal companies and private prisons, and is now running for governor on a platform targeting corporate tax loopholes, immigration enforcement and climate policy.

The California billionaire has outlined that approach most clearly on immigration, laying out a five-point plan to abolish ICE, including allowing state prosecutors to bring cases against agents and expanding legal protections for detained immigrants. Steyer calls it a plan to "put ICE in jail."

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"The true test of a leader is not who they disparage and attack, but who they defend and uplift. Donald Trump attacks and robs the most vulnerable in our society, while protecting and enriching the most powerful," the billionaire Steyer wrote in his plan on X.

Under Steyer's leadership, Farallon Capital invested $90 million in CoreCivic, which runs private prisons, including two ICE detention facilities. California gubernatorial candidate Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., brought attention to Steyer's past business dealings on X, where she responded to a post by Steyer vowing to prosecute ICE.

"If they're criminals, does that make the guy who invested $90M in their facilities an accessory?" Porter said, quoting Steyer.

Steyer called the investment a "mistake" after pushback from progressives.

"It was also a big wake-up call that I was in the wrong place, that I was in a business that was taking me to places I absolutely didn’t want to go," Steyer said at a March town hall. "And there’s a reason I walked away from that business and walked away from a ton of money."

That anti-ICE plan drew fire from Republican candidate Steve Hilton, who called it "insanity" and accused Steyer of "trying to buy this election because he has no real support."

"This is far-left extremism beyond anything we saw during the Biden years. It’s an extension of the Biden open-borders agenda on the home front," Hilton said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "He is calling for federal agents to be targeted on the streets and thrown in jail for enforcing the law. That is incitement. It puts a target on the backs of the men and women in uniform and empowers the most radical anti-government extremists."

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This isn't Steyer's first attempt at winning elected office. He dropped out of the 2020 presidential race after losing three Democratic primary contests. He spent nearly $250 million of his personal funds in that campaign.

Steyer has since donated $112 million to his 2026 gubernatorial campaign, dwarfing the hauls of his opponents. Forbes has estimated Steyer’s net worth at $2 billion.

Running on a platform that includes universal healthcare and free college, Steyer has aligned himself with progressive figures like Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has called him a "friend," though Sanders has also said he is not a "fan of billionaires getting involved" in politics.

Steyer left the hedge fund he founded in 2012 to pursue his climate and clean energy advocacy work, which included creating his climate advocacy group NextGen America.

His money and campaigning have been behind three successful ballot measures and helped prevent another, including donating $12 million to California Proposition 50, the "Election Rigging Response Act" in 2025. The measure was passed, allowing for California to redraw its congressional districts to incorporate larger shares of urban and suburban voters, which Republicans unsuccessfully challenged in court.

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In 2010, he joined a campaign and donated $5 million to defeat Proposition 23, backed by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch. The measure sought to overturn California's Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. He also led measures that closed tax loopholes allowing corporations to avoid paying taxes in California and raised taxes on tobacco to supplement healthcare programs.

Steyer has received the endorsement of Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., citing his support for taxing billionaires and his push for single-payer healthcare, among other issues.

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"Tom has also been a bold leader on climate," Khanna said. "We need a bold progressive agenda in California. That’s why I’m supporting Tom Steyer for governor." 

Steyer faces competition from Democratic candidates Rep. Katie Porter D-Calif., former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and Biden era Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, among others. Rep. Eric Swalwell D-Calif., deemed the frontrunner, dropped out of the race amid sexual assault allegations.

Fox News Digital reached out to Steyer for comment.