CAL DOGE: California Spent $72M in Taxpayer Funds on Nonprofit Immigrant-to-Voter Pipeline

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: media@caldoge.ai | CALDOGE.ai

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Xavier Becerra Backed by CHIRLA Nonprofit that Received $72M in Taxpayer Funds and Hires Illegal Immigrants to Get-out-the-vote

CAL DOGE today is releasing an investigation on CHIRLA’s $72M in taxpayer funding received over 3 years to mobilize immigrants to vote in California – now, specifically for Xavier Becerra. CHIRLA, an influential immigration advocacy non-profit in California, has built a comprehensive immigration voter pipeline and legal defense system – funded fully by taxpayers. Paid canvassing activities, staffed by undocumented immigrants through to green card holders, touch voters 4-7 times pre-election.

CHIRLA – which stands for Coalition of Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles, received $25.6M in Federal and California taxpayer funding in 2024 – 82% of its budget. Its total government funding over the last 3 years alone was $72M. CHIRLA raised multiple fraud flags in our investigation – first, for its rapidly growing funding and increases in government dependency. Second, for its total executive compensation of $1.34M, an increase of 353% over the prior 2 years. In addition, its significant assets – rare for a non-profit of this type – increased by ~$76M, or 3x, in just 2 years.

“California families are being crushed by cost of living, public disorder, unaffordable housing, and collapsing trust in government – while the California government claims there is no money to clear forests to prevent wildfires or build new water infrastructure, state and local governments have poured $72M in taxpayer dollars into an immigration nonprofit that is directly supporting Xavier Becerra,” said Jenny Rae Le Roux, Director of CAL DOGE.

The record around CHIRLA, Karen Bass, and Xavier Becerra shows the pattern. Public grants fund services to immigrants, even future immigrants still in Mexico. Services provide community access. Community access starts the civic process – how to vote quickly turns into who to vote for. Voter education mobilizes the vulnerable to lobby, mobilize, and support candidates – now, Becerra – directly and through partner agencies. And all of this is funded by millions of taxpayer dollars - $72M over the past 3 years, to be exact.

“California’s Controller’s Office should complete an audit on CHIRLA spending to determine whether or not there was financial or practical coordination between the 501(c)3 and the 501(c)4. The audit should include firewall records, staff allocation policies, shared-facility cost allocation, list-sharing restrictions, voter-contact compliance controls, grant scopes of work, invoices, monitoring letters, subcontracts, and closeout reports. If funds have been misappropriated, arrests must be made,” said Herb Morgan, candidate for Controller.

CHIRLA does not just operate in California – it has offices in Mexico, too (in Tijuana, Mexico City, and Tapachula). CHIRLA helps immigrants to come to the US in the first place –support funded by federal and state dollars. Once in the US, CHIRLA uses taxpayer funds for its primary activities – offering free or low-cost legal advice to immigrants on how to manipulate the US legal system, educating 25,000 people per year (350-500 per week) on how to protect themselves against ICE and draw out legal action, paid for by the taxpayers, to extend their stays, and funding undocumented workers to get out the vote for candidates – like Becerra.

Xavier Becerra, Candidate for Governor of California, was publicly endorsed by CHIRLA on April 13, just after Eric Swallwell dropped out of the race. “This should concern every American and every Californian. Becerra is awash in scandal – and now, he’s being boosted into leadership in this race by the power players who want favors in return for looking the other way – and we’re paying for it. Only an outsider can reform California,” said Steve Hilton, candidate for California Governor.

CHIRLA operates a documented "civic pipeline" — its own words, from its IRS Form 990 filing — from immigration legal services → naturalization → voter registration → political mobilization. These taxpayer funded activities are a questionable use of public money in the first place, but they are also meant to be non-partisan – however, they have notably only supported Democrats.

“Rob Bonta has been covering corrupting and fighting against everyday Californians for the past 5 years. When I’m Attorney General, I’ll return California to a law and order state and fight for everyday Californians,” said Michael Gates, Candidate for California Attorney General.

Murky governance is another CAL DOGE fraud flag. CHIRLA's (c)(4) arm, the CHIRLA Action Fund, endorses candidates and runs PAC expenditures. There is significant operational overlap - Angelica Salas simultaneously serves as the Executive Director of CHIRLA (c3) and President/Board Chair of the CHIRLA Action Fund (c4). In fact, the two groups explicitly collaborate on The Immigrant Political Power Project (IPPP) - a "joint initiative of CHIRLA and the CHIRLA Action Fund."

Karen Bass, Mayor of Los Angeles, personally secured federal DHS funding for CHIRLA (August 2024) and channels city “relief” funds, cash cards for immigrants, through RepresentLA ($5M over 3 fiscal years). CHIRLA then turned around and endorsed Bass in 2022 and 2026; then Bass signed executive directives aligned with CHIRLA's agenda. The same loop is being used to put Becerra in power: nonprofit support → political career → resources directed back to nonprofits.

The CHIRLA Pipeline is well-documented:

#	Stage	Evidence
1	Legal services	Immigration legal aid, DACA renewals, naturalization, education
2	Create citizens	Legal Services Director Karla Aguayo: "Our goal is to create as many citizens as possible"
3	Enter civic pipeline	990 filing: "engages all immigrant statuses in civic pipeline; assists…with naturalization, voter registration, mobilization"
4	Target new voters	IPPP (joint CHIRLA and CHIRLA ACTION): "targets new citizens...to build a voter base from scratch, with enough power to sway state politics"
5	Repeat contact	4-7 pre-election contacts per voter via canvassers "ranging in status from undocumented to LPR (Lawful Permanent Resident)"
6	Endorse & spend	CHIRLA Action Fund (c4) endorses candidates
7	Claim results	"A brand-new voter base, not built from borrowed lists but engineered from our own efforts"

And to top it all off, $1.25M of CHIRLA’s assets were invested in a for-profit film subsidiary, CHIRLA Films LLC. A film it produced premiered June 2022 and is on Amazon Prime.

CHIRLA builds trust, maintains contacts, organizes protests, extends immigration stays through legal action, and leverages the very politicians it gets elected. That is political power. And it is not politically neutral, nor is it an appropriate use of taxpayer funds. Action must be taken, and funding should be stopped for CHIRLA.

There are multiple ways to bring accountability for taxpayer spending. First, the House Judiciary Committee and House Homeland Security Committee began funding investigations into CHIRLA’s connections with the LA riots and funding for Anti-ICE protests. Those must be swiftly completed, before any additional federal dollars are released. If the law has been broken, justice must be swift.

Second – we call on the California Controller’s office to complete a comprehensive audit.

Finally, we encourage the people of California to call your Legislators and ask them to vote against AB2600, which is sponsored by current Attorney General Rob Bonta’s wife Mia Bonta, is supported by CHIRLA, and supports additional California funding for legal counsel to every indigent "covered individual" not otherwise represented in specified immigration proceedings. Even when deportation is likely, taxpayer-funded lawyers can file motions, appeals, technical challenges, and CAT (Convention Against Torture) claims that delay removal for years. The current text also includes support to keep prisoners with serious or violent criminal convictions in the US and on California’s payroll.

Why should working families struggling to pay rent be forced to pay a lawyer for an illegal immigrant charged with murder, rape, or child molestation to avoid deportation? The answer is simple – we shouldn’t. CHIRLA’s murky relationship with Mexico, anti-government defense proceedings, and lack of governance may render even its existence illegal. But at any rate, if it is acceptable to allow it to remain open, it’s imperative for national security and election integrity that all public funding to CHIRLA will stop.

CAL DOGE was created to promote transparency and accountability in California government spending. To submit tips related to fraud, waste, or abuse, visit: CALDOGE.ai