Jimmy Gomez and the Bill to Strip $175 Billion From ICE
Jimmy Gomez is the son of Mexican immigrants and represents a Los Angeles district that is 43% foreign-born. He says he has never voted to fund ICE, and in 2025 he introduced a bill to take $175 billion away from immigration enforcement.
- Origin
- Mexico
- Pathway
- U.S.-born (2nd gen)
- Citizenship
- U.S.-born citizen
- Religion
- Catholic
- Caucus
- Progressive Caucus
- First elected
- 2017
Key Findings
Jimmy Gomez was born in Fullerton, California, in 1974, the youngest of six children of Mexican immigrants. He represents California's 34th district, covering downtown and East Los Angeles, which was 43.4% foreign-born as of 2024.
His record sits well to the left. His DW-NOMINATE first-dimension score is −0.529 and his Heritage Action score is 16%. He belongs to the Progressive Caucus and is a founding member of the Medicare for All Caucus.
He states that he has never voted for a standalone spending bill that funds Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In December 2025 he introduced a bill to rescind $175 billion in funding for ICE and Customs and Border Protection and redirect it to housing programs. He has called blocking increased ICE funding a "redline" for his party.
Jimmy Gomez has built his immigration record around a single refusal. He will not vote to fund the agency that enforces the border from within the country. In a Congress full of members who criticize Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Gomez has gone furthest in trying to cut off its money.
Fullerton to East Los Angeles
Gomez was born in Fullerton, California, in 1974, the youngest of six children. His parents had immigrated from Mexico. His father worked as a laborer, his mother in domestic and nursing-home work.[1] He is the second generation, the American-born son of the immigration wave he now legislates around.
He won a seat in the state assembly in 2012 and a 2017 special election for the 34th district's House seat, succeeding Xavier Becerra.[1] The district covers downtown Los Angeles and the heavily Hispanic neighborhoods to its east and northeast. As of 2024, 43.4% of its residents were born outside the United States.[2]
The record
Gomez votes with the left of the House. His DW-NOMINATE first-dimension score is −0.529, and his Heritage Action score is 16%.[3][4] He sits in the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the Hispanic Caucus, and the Asian Pacific American Caucus, and he was a founding member of the Medicare for All Caucus.[5] He cosponsored the Green New Deal.[5]
Cutting off enforcement
Gomez's defining stance is on immigration enforcement. On his official House page he states that he "has never voted for a standalone appropriations bill that funds ICE."[6] He supports a sweeping legalization bill that would open a citizenship pathway for immigrants in the country illegally.[6]
In December 2025 he turned the position into legislation. He introduced a bill, with more than 60 cosponsors and the backing of the Progressive Caucus, to rescind $175 billion that Congress had appropriated for ICE and Customs and Border Protection. The money would be redirected to housing tax credits and rental assistance.[7]
He has been blunt about the priority. He called the effort to block increased ICE funding a "redline" for Democrats in the 2026 spending fight. He has also pressed ICE on oversight, attempting visits to a downtown Los Angeles detention facility that he said the agency obstructed.[8]
He has not embraced the slogan of abolishing ICE outright. He does not need to. A member who would strip $175 billion from immigration enforcement and has never voted to fund it has made his position on the agency clear through the appropriations process itself.
Defunding enforcement through the budget
Gomez legislates through the budget, which is exactly where his record lands. His December 2025 bill would rescind $175 billion from ICE and Customs and Border Protection and hand it to housing programs. He says he has never voted for a standalone bill that funds ICE, and he calls blocking increased enforcement money a "redline" for his party. A member who represents a district that is 43.4% foreign-born has used the appropriations process to starve the enforcement of the laws that govern who enters the country and who stays.
The 34th district reached that composition through decades of immigration into East and Northeast Los Angeles. Gomez is the American-born son of that wave, and he now works to cut the enforcement budget toward zero while redirecting the money to rental assistance for the same crowded neighborhoods high immigration helped strain. The Nation of Settlers argues the honest fix is upstream: lower admissions and real assimilation requirements, not a district so reshaped by immigration that defunding the border becomes its representative's central project.
Sources
- Jimmy Gomez, biography - born in Fullerton, California, in 1974, the youngest of six children of Mexican immigrants
- Data USA, Congressional District 34, California (American Community Survey) - 43.4% foreign-born as of 2024
- DW-NOMINATE first-dimension scores, voteview.com - Jimmy Gomez −0.529
- Heritage Action Scorecard, 118th Congress - Jimmy Gomez 16%
- Office of Rep. Jimmy Gomez, progressive record - Progressive Caucus membership; Medicare for All Caucus founding member; Green New Deal cosponsorship
- Office of Rep. Jimmy Gomez, immigration page - "has never voted for a standalone appropriations bill that funds ICE"; support for a legalization bill
- Newsweek, "Democrat targets Trump's $175B immigration funds for housing" - December 2025 bill to rescind $175 billion from ICE and CBP
- Texas Public Radio / NPR, "Rep. Jimmy Gomez tried to view an ICE detention center. The agency wouldn't let him." - obstructed oversight visit