California Republican gubernatorial hopeful Steve Hilton on Tuesday intensified claims that a taxpayer-funded nonprofit is building a political operation that benefits his Democratic rival Xavier Becerra by recruiting immigrant communities — including people the campaign says lack work authorization — for voter outreach and canvassing.
Hilton’s team pointed to findings published by the California Department of Government Efficiency (CAL DOGE), an anti-fraud initiative he launched on Jan. 26, which says the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) and its political arm, CHIRLA Action Fund, have used public dollars to support a “pipeline” that moves clients from immigration legal services into civic engagement and voter mobilisation. “NEW FROM CAL DOGE: California taxpayer $$$ funding illegal immigrants to campaign for Xavier Becerra, in violation of federal law,” Hilton wrote on X as he unveiled the materials.
The CAL DOGE documents, highlighted by Hilton, describe a multi-step approach: deliver immigration legal services such as DACA renewals and naturalization, then integrate participants into civic activities including voter registration and “4–7 pre-election contacts per voter” through door-to-door canvassing. The outline identified canvassers “ranging in status from undocumented to LPR (lawful permanent resident),” and says the CHIRLA Action Fund endorses and spends to support candidates — noting an explicit endorsement of Becerra announced on April 13.
Hilton and CAL DOGE have accused the group of effectively linking services funded by taxpayers to partisan political action and of paying individuals who are not authorized to work in the United States to participate in campaign-related outreach. The campaign is now calling for state and federal investigations into whether laws were violated, including whether employers improperly compensated unauthorized workers or whether public funding indirectly bolstered partisan organising.
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CHIRLA rejects Hilton’s characterisation. In response to The California Post, CHIRLA said public funding it receives is restricted to legal services and social support programs and that its civic and political operations are separate. Angelica Salas, president of the CHIRLA Action Fund, reiterated the group’s endorsement of Becerra in a public statement: “We are here today to make our endorsement public and to announce that we will work hard to get him elected on June 2, 2026, for the primary and then on to November.” CHIRLA told reporters it “follows the law to the letter” and distinguishes its C3 service work from its C4 political arm.
Becerra’s campaign had not issued a direct response to the specific allegations as of Tuesday. The controversy landed amid an already heated gubernatorial contest: Becerra, a former U.S. health secretary and California attorney general, has led polls ahead of the June 2 primary while facing intensifying attacks from Republican opponents. The dispute has drawn attention from within Democratic circles as well; former Justice Department official Xochitl Hinojosa, after a recent debate, told CNN she did not trust Becerra to stand up to former President Donald Trump.
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Hilton has framed CAL DOGE after Elon Musk’s federal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and even used Musk’s AI, Grok, to design the new logo, material his campaign has showcased while releasing the CHIRLA documents. The Republican candidate held a press event outside a CHIRLA office in Santa Ana where he urged investigators to examine whether taxpayer resources have inappropriately supported partisan mobilisation — a claim CHIRLA and its supporters dispute and that, if pursued, could lead to legal and political scrutiny in the months before the primary.
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