Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican now running for governor of California, is openly pledging to back a path to citizenship for millions of illegal aliens and says he is prepared to lobby President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans to enact such an amnesty if he wins statewide office.
In a pair of interviews that have circulated widely online, Bianco laid out a position that places him sharply at odds with the conservative base on one of the defining issues of the last decade: mass illegal immigration and the political realignment it has driven. According to Breitbart, Bianco has repeatedly endorsed the idea of granting naturalized American citizenship to millions of illegal aliens already in the United States, provided they have not been convicted of a crime, and has framed this as a necessary component of fixing the immigration system.
Bianco roots his argument in his own familys immigrant story, contrasting the work ethic of earlier generations with what he describes as todays entitlement culture. My family immigrated here from Italy and they came here for jobs. Thats what things were here for. You came here [for] a job, you said that America is the greatest country in the world and I want to be an American and you bust your behind to make sure that you provide for your family. Thats what it was then. And the people that came here knew they had to work hard to succeed, Bianco told Pastura California in a November 2025 interview.
He then drew a sharp line between that experience and current migration patterns, saying, The people that are coming here now, especially illegally, are coming here for free stuff. And then we are the ones that are paying for that. So the immigration system has to be fixed. they were allowed into the country legally, but theyve extended how long they could stay. [Emphasis added]
From there, Bianco argued that the federal government has failed to manage the system and that the nations largest states must force the issue. We have to fix that process and its up to the federal government to do it. As the governor of California, the largest state in the country, I will work with the governor of Texas, the governor of Florida, the other two largest states in the country, because we have the, arguably, we do, we have, California is one of the largest immigrant populations in the country, and illegal immigrant populations in the country. But we have to address it."
"We have to make it right. . So now we just have to fix it. Secure our borders, dont let it happen again, and now we have to get to a position where we allow that to happen. If theyre here and theyre breaking our laws and committing crimes, they got to go back. Were not going to allow them to stay here to violate our social norms and our rules of law and victimize us. So the ones that are here illegally that are committing crimes, theyve got to be sent back. [Emphasis added]
His formulation attempts to blend border security rhetoric with a sweeping domestic amnesty, a combination that has repeatedly alarmed conservatives who have watched similar grand bargains in Washington end with enforcement promises broken and the amnesty made permanent.
Bianco went further, explicitly promising to use the power of the governors office to push a Republican president and GOP lawmakers toward legalization. Biano continued, saying he would use his influence as governor of California to lobby Trump and Republican members of Congress on amnesty for illegal aliens.
I, as the governor of California, we will fight for a path to citizenship and I will use my influence as the greatest state and the biggest state in the country on the President and on congress and we will utilize Florida and Texas because they want the same things, Bianco said.
He blamed Washingtons political class for decades of inaction, but his solution mirrors the very comprehensive immigration reform approach that grassroots conservatives have rejected as a bait-and-switch. It is our failed politicians that are not making this happen and the reason being is they use that as an election argument every single four years, saying Oh, if you elect me, Ill fix it its been 50 years and nobodys fixed it. So you put in the position and [Emphasis added] he added, suggesting that only a coalition of large red and purple states could finally force Congress to act.
For many on the right, however, the core problem has not been a lack of political will to grant amnesty, but a chronic refusal to enforce existing law and secure the border before any discussion of legal status.
Breitbart News reached out to Biancos campaign for clarification on his remarks, which have sparked concern among immigration hawks who see California as a cautionary tale of what mass amnesty and unchecked migration can do to a once-reliably Republican state. In a statement, Bianco insisted that his position has been mischaracterized by both political camps and that his comments are being weaponized for partisan gain. In a statement, Bianco said he has been very clear on immigration and said that both sides of the political aisle have twisted his comments to benefit them.
He argued that ordinary Californians, not politicians, are paying the price for a broken system and a political class that treats immigration as a perpetual campaign issue rather than a policy problem to be solved. Immigration is being made into a political tool, and California residents are the pawns, Bianco told Breitbart News. That framing allows him to cast himself as a pragmatic reformer, but it does little to reassure conservatives who have watched Californias demographic and political transformation unfold in the wake of past amnesty schemes.
The states recent history underscores why many on the right view any new path to citizenship with deep skepticism. In California, waves of high levels of immigration, as well as President Ronald Reagans amnesty in 1986, have played a major role in turning the state into a Democrat stronghold. For instance, in 1980, Californias foreign-born population totalled 3.58 million. At the time, California routinely voted for Republicans, backing GOP presidential candidates in several elections from 1952 to 1988.
The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, signed by Reagan, granted legal status to nearly three million illegal aliens nationwide, with a large share residing in California, and conservatives have long argued that the promised enforcement never materialized. Following the 1986 Reagan amnesty, where the majority of illegal aliens legalized resided in California, the states foreign-born population has grown dramatically hitting almost 11 million by 2024 and has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1988. That trajectory has become a warning to Republicans nationally: amnesty, once granted, tends to lock in a durable electoral advantage for Democrats, who then push for even more expansive migration and welfare policies.
Biancos record as sheriff also raises questions for conservatives who prioritize cooperation with federal immigration authorities as a basic law-and-order principle. During an interview with podcast host Britt Mayer from April of last year, Bianco suggested that he did not want his deputies at the Riverside County Sheriffs Office cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), claiming that illegal aliens may be less likely to report crimes if they believe they, themselves, are at risk of being deported. I dont want my line deputies, my patrol deputies, absolutely cannot be cooperating with the federal government in immigration reform because the people that we go to help are calling for our help, Bianco said. They are being victimized. And if they are afraid to report crime because theyre afraid to be deported themselves for being a victim.
He framed this as a public-safety necessity, arguing that fear of deportation should never deter victims from coming forward, even as he acknowledged that criminal aliens must ultimately be removed. If a woman is raped and she will not report that to law enforcement because she believes she is going to be deported, then we are failing as an absolute country because we should be only caring about who victimized that poor girl or woman or man, and how can we make sure we get that criminal off the streets and behind bars, and if theyre illegal, they need to be deported immediately, Bianco said.
That logic echoes arguments long advanced by sanctuary city proponents, even though the available data have repeatedly undercut the claim that cooperation with ICE suppresses crime reporting among immigrants.
In that same Britt Mayer Show interview, Bianco once again endorsed a nationwide legalization program for illegal aliens, underscoring that his position is not a one-off misstatement but a consistent theme. Bianco, in the Britt Mayer Show interview, also reiterated his support for a path to citizenship for illegal aliens across the U.S. The bottom line is that we absolutely must have a path to citizenship for people that are here, Bianco said.
Pressed by Breitbart News, Bianco attempted to draw a distinction between front-line policing and jail operations, arguing that sheriffs should be able to work with federal authorities once offenders are in custody. Bianco told Breitbart News that he believes every person who is in jail for victimizing Californians should be deported and said that sheriffs operating jails should be cooperating with the federal government.
He then turned his fire on Californias sanctuary laws, which were enacted by the states Democratic majority and have been widely condemned by conservatives as a direct assault on federal immigration enforcement.
The sanctuary policies prevent that from happening and force the release of criminals back into our neighborhoods, Bianco said. Sanctuary policies place sheriffs at risk of criminal prosecution and removal from office because of ridiculous sanctuary state laws. The vast majority of residents, including immigrants, want that to end. In that respect, Bianco aligns with conservative sheriffs and local officials who have warned that Sacramentos sanctuary regime ties the hands of law enforcement and endangers communities by shielding criminal aliens from deportation.
Bianco, in his statement to Breitbart News, said again that the threat of deportation can not be used by criminals to prevent the reporting of crime. He emphasized the moral obligation to protect vulnerable victims, regardless of immigration status, while reiterating his opposition to state-level sanctuary mandates. A child being molested under threat of deportation should not be afraid of turning toward a deputy for protection, Bianco said.
With all that said, sanctuary state policies need to be repealed. They harm our communities. As California governor, I will gladly work with other governors to pressure Congress to fix a broken immigration system.
Yet the empirical record challenges one of the central premises behind Biancos reluctance to have patrol deputies cooperate with ICE. Data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) has debunked claims, often used by sanctuary city proponents, that immigrants are less likely to report crime. In reality, the data show that in every major crime category, only about one percent of immigrants who did not report a crime said they did not report such crimes because of fear of the authorities.
Researchers at the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that advocates lower levels of immigration and stronger enforcement, have examined the NCVS data in detail and found no evidence that cooperation between local police and federal immigration agencies suppresses reporting.
There is no evidence in the NCVS data that crimes against immigrants are reported to police at lower rates than crimes against the native-born, indicating that the routine, even active, cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities that takes place in most jurisdictions does not suppress crime reporting by immigrants, an analysis of the NCVS data from the Center for Immigration Studies details.
That finding undercuts one of the main rationales for sanctuary-style policies and suggests that law enforcement can both protect victims and enforce immigration law without sacrificing one for the other.
For conservatives weighing Biancos gubernatorial bid, the tension in his platform is hard to ignore: he rightly condemns Californias sanctuary state laws, calls for border security, and insists that criminal aliens must be deported, yet simultaneously champions a nationwide path to citizenship that would reward millions who violated U.S. immigration law and potentially reshape the electorate for generations.
Californias own experience after the 1986 Reagan amnesty a soaring foreign-born population, a hardened Democratic monopoly, and an aggressive progressive policy regime stands as a stark reminder of what broad legalization can mean in practice, not just in theory.
Whether Republican voters in the nations largest state are prepared to embrace a candidate who promises to lobby a future President Trump and a Republican Congress for precisely that kind of amnesty will be a central test of how firmly the party still holds to the enforcement-first, no-amnesty principles that have defined conservative immigration policy since California slipped from red to deep blue.
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