Hilton Accuses Taxpayer-Funded CHIRLA of Paying Illegal Immigrants to Canvass for Xavier Becerra – RedState

Steve Hilton, Republican candidate for governor of California, stood in front of a taxpayer-funded immigrant rights office in Santa Ana on Wednesday and made a specific, documented accusation: California taxpayers are paying for illegal immigrants to campaign for Xavier Becerra.

The organization at the center is the Los Angeles Coalition for Immigrant Human Rights (CHIRLA), which received $72 million in state funding over three years, supported Becerra for governor and, according to its own internal organizing documents, deploys canvassers who include people in the country illegally.

🚨 NEWS FROM CAL DOGE: California Taxpayer $$$ Funds Illegal Immigrants to Campaign for Xavier Becerra, in Violation of Federal Law.

CHIRLA, a taxpayer-funded nonprofit, endorsed Becerra on April 13. Our investigation reveals payments to illegal immigrants for campaign activities: pic.twitter.com/ziM3P4pT6C

–Steve Hilton (@SteveHiltonx) May 6, 2026

Hilton said:

“…California taxpayers are funding an organization that uses illegal immigrants to campaign for Javier Becerra. This is not only unacceptable, unethical and outrageous, but a theft of taxpayer dollars for political purposes. It is illegal.”

Of course, we’ve covered CHIRLA extensively here at RedState; our editor, Jennifer Van Laar, documented their role in fomenting the weeks-long anti-ICE violence in Los Angeles last summer, using taxpayer dollars to do so.

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles (CHIRLA) funds a network of anti-ICE doxxing groups similar to the Signal chats in Minneapolis, trains violent agitators, and has played a key role in anti-ICE violence in California – all funded by taxpayers. THANKS… pic.twitter.com/hXt6ZC3q0r

– Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) April 23, 2026

We also learned that the organization was behind the so-called “Stop Nick Shirley Act” introduced in the California Assembly last month.

Learn more:

Taxpayer-Funded Riots: Here’s What We Found When Following the Money in Los Angeles

An NGO linked to the Los Angeles anti-ICE riots and rapid response networks sponsored a California bill known as the Stop Nick Shirley Act

Federal law prohibits employers from knowingly hiring or paying individuals who are not authorized to work in the United States. CHIRLA’s own organizing documents describe voter canvassers “ranging from undocumented to legal permanent residents,” making “4 to 7 pre-election contacts per voter.” These are not Hilton’s words. These are the CHIRLA.

Then there is approval. The CHIRLA Action Fund officially endorsed Becerra for governor on April 13, and its president was explicit about what that meant.

“We are here today to make our support public and to announce that we will work hard to get him elected in the June 2, 2026 primary, and then through November,” said Angelica Salas, president of the CHIRLA Action Fund.

CHIRLA and its affiliated entities have received approximately $72 million in state funding over the past three years, including $25.6 million in 2024 alone. That money goes to an organization that also runs what its own filings call a “civic pipeline”: a structured program moving individuals from DACA renewals and naturalization applications through voter registration and full political mobilization, with the explicit goal of building a new Democratic voting base.

CalDOGE Report: pic.twitter.com/LVexeLvD2C

–Steve Hilton (@SteveHiltonx) May 6, 2026

CHIRLA disputes these allegations, arguing that its taxpayer funding is legally isolated from the activities of its C4 political arm. “We follow the law to the letter; our critics should take the time to understand it,” Salas said in a statement. Yet after Wednesday night’s Los Angeles mayor’s debate, Salas was quick to tell an NBC Los Angeles reporter who asked for her thoughts on the debate that she was attending in her capacity as president of the CHIRLA Action Fund, not as executive director of CHIRLA. It’s difficult to silo activities when one person runs both organizations.

CHIRLA – Executive Director Angelica Salas at the Los Angeles Mayor’s Debate.

Of course they support Karen Bass. pic.twitter.com/GP7dQ75mwS

– Doña de Commiefornia (@LaDonaDelValle) May 7, 2026

This May 5 Instagram post from the CHIRLA Action Fund identifies Salas as the organization’s president.

Whether illegal immigrants were paid as canvassers (which federal law prohibits, regardless of the entity issuing the check) is one that neither CHIRLA nor Becerra’s campaign has directly answered. Hilton and CalDOGE took the matter to state and federal authorities to find out.

Becerra, Biden’s former HHS secretary who, along with Democrat Tom Steyer and Republican Steve Hilton, is leading in polls heading into the June 2 primary, has remained silent, with no response to the solicitation allegations, none to the organizational materials, none to the $72 million in public funding flowing to a group openly working to elect him.

For years, California Republicans have warned that Sacramento’s nonprofit sector, rich in public funds and aligned with Democrats’ electoral goals, operates like a government-funded campaign operation that voters never approved and cannot vote on. Outside a CHIRLA office in Orange County on Wednesday, Hilton gave a name, a dollar amount and a paper trail. What Sacramento Democrats do next will tell voters everything they need to know about whether someone in power actually answers to them.

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