Rep. Pete Aguilar said repealing Medicaid cuts that could strip health coverage from thousands of Inland Empire residents would be a top Democratic priority if the party wins back the U.S. House of Representatives.

Aguilar, a Democrat who represents California's 33rd Congressional District, which includes Rialto, made the comments in an interview with KVCR Public Media published Oct. 29. KVCR reporter Madison Aument spoke with Aguilar at his campaign office in Redlands.

Aguilar said the Medicaid cuts "could mean IEHP and Molina lose thousands and thousands of people from health care in San Bernardino and Riverside counties alone." Inland Empire Health Plan, or IEHP, serves about 1.5 million people across both counties, according to the Daily Bulletin.

The cuts stem from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Congress passed in July 2024 and President Donald Trump signed into law. The law extended the 2017 tax cuts and removed taxes on tips but trimmed Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to offset costs, the Daily Bulletin reported. The law is expected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $900 billion over a decade, according to KFF Health News. KFF Health News reported that health care analysts predict the law could increase the number of uninsured Americans by an estimated 10 million.

As we reported Oct. 30, Medi-Cal enrollees ages 19 to 64 without dependents will face eligibility checks every six months starting Dec. 31, and a new work requirement of at least 80 hours per month takes effect in 2027.

IEHP has already felt the impact. The health plan lost 35,000 Covered California members and 50,000 members overall across its three lines of business in January, the Daily Bulletin reported. Gov. Gavin Newsom's office has estimated up to 3.4 million Californians could lose Medi-Cal coverage under the federal changes, according to the same report.

Immigration enforcement and economic fears

Aguilar also addressed immigration enforcement, saying fear in Latino communities is suppressing economic activity.

"People aren't going to work, shopping or going out to dinner, the things our economy needs to survive," Aguilar told KVCR. He attributed the fear to the administration's enforcement agenda and said House Republicans have been "unwilling to push back."

Aguilar claimed that "seventy percent of the people ICE has detained have no prior criminal record." That figure does not match independent analyses. A FactCheck.org review of ICE arrest data found that about a third of those arrested during Trump's first year in office had neither a conviction nor a pending charge. The administration's own 70% figure refers to those who do have convictions or pending charges combined, FactCheck.org reported.

The share of ICE arrestees with no criminal record has grown over time, however. In Trump's first three months in office, about 22% of those arrested had no criminal record. By the three months ending in mid-October 2025, that figure rose to about 40.5%, according to FactCheck.org's analysis of data from the Deportation Data Project.

Aguilar has been campaigning across the country ahead of the midterm elections. KVCR reported that if Democrats flip the House, Aguilar would become House Majority Whip. He told KVCR that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries would set the caucus's first legislative priority, with restoring Affordable Care Act tax credits and repealing the Medicaid cuts at the top of the list.

"America is too damn expensive: gas, groceries, housing, utilities, all of it," Aguilar said.