Xavier Becerra faces intense scrutiny over his long-standing “son of immigrants” narrative as Republican challenger Steve Hilton questions the historical accuracy of his family’s story.
For years. Xavier Becerra has grounded his political identity in a singular. evocative origin story: the son of Mexican immigrants who arrived in California with nothing but $12 and a dream. That narrative. long a staple of his career from attorney general to the federal cabinet. has now fractured the gubernatorial race as Republican challenger Steve Hilton and other critics move to label the claim an embellishment.
During a nationally televised debate last week, Becerra reaffirmed the account of his parents’ humble beginnings. But the challenge is specific: Hilton. himself an immigrant from the United Kingdom. points to the fact that Becerra’s father. Manuel. was born in Sacramento in 1928. making him a U.S. citizen. “Unlike Xavier Becerra, I am an immigrant. Unlike Xavier Becerra. my father was an immigrant. ” Hilton wrote on X. asserting that the Democrat has spent years mischaracterizing his background. Former Trump official Richard Grenell echoed the sentiment, accusing media outlets of allowing the claim to go unchecked for decades.
Becerra pushed back Tuesday after a rally at Guelaguetza, a Oaxacan restaurant in Los Angeles’ Pico-Union neighborhood. While acknowledging his father’s birthplace. he defended his use of the term “son of immigrants” by pointing to the lived reality of the 1930s. Manuel Becerra was taken to Tijuana as a young boy during the Great Depression, an era when the U.S. government forced hundreds of thousands of Mexicans and their descendants—more than 60% of whom were U.S. citizens—out of the country in a wave of mass deportations and xenophobia.
“My dad was a proud immigrant,” Becerra said, noting that his father’s life was defined by the border. “Even though my dad was born in the U.S.—in a country that wouldn’t treat him the way it would treat other U.S. citizens—my dad was a proud immigrant.” He recounted his father’s experiences working as a preteen shoe shiner and farm laborer. often facing signs in businesses that read. “No dogs. Negros or Mexicans allowed.”.
Sociological nuance explains this contradiction, according to G. Cristina Mora, a professor at UC Berkeley and co-director of the Institute of Governmental Studies. During that era. the southern border was far more porous. and the distinction between “citizen” and “immigrant” was frequently erased by systemic anti-Mexican fervor. “To think there’s only one immigrant story would just be to not know California,” Mora said. “There are many types of immigrants. There’s so much nuance.”.
The political stakes are intensifying as both camps trade barbs over identity. Becerra’s spokesperson. Jonathan Underland. accused Hilton of hypocrisy. suggesting the Republican is weaponizing anti-immigrant sentiment to distract from a recent. sexually suggestive campaign ad that alienated his own party members. “Steve Hilton doesn’t seem to have a problem with immigrants who look like him—but openly attacks immigrants who look like Xavier Becerra. ” Underland said.
As the campaign continues. the dispute highlights the friction between rigid historical labels and the lived experiences of families who moved between countries during the economic instability of the 1920s and 30s. Manuel Becerra eventually moved to Tijuana before permanently settling in the U.S. in the early 1950s after marrying Maria Teresa, who was from Guadalajara. He went on to build a 30-year career in construction. while his wife worked in clerical roles and later invested in rental properties.
For Becerra, the debate is less about legal status and more about the struggle his parents endured to establish a life in California. “So when I say my parents came to California with $12 in their pocket,” he said, “it’s because, Steve Hilton, my parents came to California with $12 in their pocket.”
Xavier Becerra Steve Hilton California governor race immigration election 2024