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Every Democrat asked during this week’s California gubernatorial debate said they supported providing healthcare coverage for illegal immigrants, a position they took moments after candidates spent several minutes warning that California’s healthcare system is already too expensive and straining families, businesses and the state budget.
“We had a broken immigration system, and now you want to victimize the people who are working here and making the state run,” Democratic candidate and billionaire businessman Tom Steyer said when asked if he supported giving coverage to illegal immigrants after the current California governor, Gavin Newsom, cut it to help reduce the state’s ballooning deficit.
Former California congresswoman and fellow Democratic candidate for California governor, Katie Porter, was asked point-blank about the cost concerns related to providing illegal immigrants with free healthcare coverage.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT HEALTHCARE COSTS IN BLUE STATE TRIGGERS INTENSE BUDGET DEBATE
Democratic candidate Antonio Villaraigosa, Democratic candidate Katie Porter, Democratic candidate Tom Steyer, Republican candidate Steve Hilton, Republican candidate Chad Bianco and Democratic candidate Xavier Becerra participate in a California gubernatorial debate at the East Los Angeles College Auditorium in Monterey Park, California, on May 5, 2026. Seven candidates for California governor are participating in the third televised debate, ahead of the June 2, 2026 primary elections. (Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images)
“We can’t afford to have people who are sick, who are making the rest of us sick,” Porter responded to the cost question before her Republican opponent, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, interjected “they shouldn’t be here,” leading Porter to pause and give him a look of bewilderment.
“When anyone doesn’t have care, the rest of us are at risk when people don’t get vaccinations,” Porter continued. “When they don’t go to the doctor, they wind up in the emergency room. They cause longer lines for the rest of us. They make our health care system — they push it to the brink.”
“Immigrants, whether documented or not, work hard. They pay taxes and sometimes they get injured on the job or their children get sick,” former Biden administration Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said when asked if he supported the measure.
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Trump administration expands efforts to prevent illegal immigrants from getting public health benefits. (Getty/iStock)
“It would be foolish to tell a family that they don’t have access to the pediatrician or the family doc, or not be able to use the community health center where it wouldn’t cost us so much to give them help access to good health care,” Becerra continued. “Instead, what will happen is that child will get so ill that they will have to take that child to the hospital. And what door do they enter? The most expensive door in the health care system? The emergency room door. Why do that and spend so much money when you can do it up front?”
The remaining Democratic Party candidates on the stage, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, were not directly asked whether they supported providing healthcare to illegal immigrants in the state, nor did they indicate their stances during other portions of the debate that discussed health care.
“The actual way we deal with health care in this state is to at least stop spending $20 billion a year on free health care for illegal immigrants who shouldn’t even be in the country in the first place,” Republican candidate and former Fox News host Steve Hilton said amid debate about how to reform the state’s healthcare system.
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Xavier Becerra, left, and Steve Hilton participate in the California gubernatorial candidate debate Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Laure Andrillon)
“When are we going to draw the line at any other crime? It’s illegal. They enter the country illegally, we’re not going to incentivize them to come here to take more of the resources that regular Californians aren’t getting,” Bianco added.
Before defending taxpayer-funded healthcare access for illegal immigrants, several of the Democratic candidates were already locked in a fight over who was more committed to government-run healthcare.
Steyer said he supports single payer “absolutely,” while Becerra said California should “try to get to a Medicare for all program.” Porter repeatedly pressed Becerra to be more explicit, asking whether he supported “California having its own state-run single-payer system.”
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But the push for expanded coverage came as candidates also acknowledged the cost problem. Steyer said healthcare is “eating up our budget” and “eating up every single family,” while Villaraigosa warned a state-run single-payer system would carry a roughly $500 billion price tag and require approval from the federal government.
“It’s pie in the sky,” Villaraigosa said.
