California is constantly finding new ways to light taxpayer money on fire.
This is the worst one yet.
And Gavin Newsom was busted for this scheme to use taxpayer money for protesters.
California State Records Expose $115 Million Taxpayer Funding Scheme
Independent journalist Cam Higby pulled the numbers directly from California's public expenditure database at open.fiscal.ca.gov – not a conservative think tank or a political opponent, but Newsom's own government records.
What he found: California has funneled $115 million in taxpayer funds to a single organization whose stated mission is to organize protests, run voter registration campaigns, and fight federal immigration enforcement.
The group is the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, known as CHIRLA.
CHIRLA doesn't hide what it does.
Its own website boasts of organizing "in the streets, in the courts, and in the halls of power."
Civil liberties attorney Laura Powell dug into the annual numbers and found that California sent CHIRLA $32.5 million in the fiscal year ending June 2023 alone – including a no-strings-attached $20 million gift to help the group purchase real estate.
Over the five-year period from July 2019 to June 2024, California taxpayers sent CHIRLA more than $67 million under Gavin Newsom.
75% of CHIRLA's total annual revenue came from government contracts.
CHIRLA also takes direct credit for securing $175 million in COVID relief funds for illegal aliens and made nearly 100,000 voter contacts during the 2020 election cycle – work the organization openly classifies as get-out-the-vote activity.
If any portion of that taxpayer money supported partisan voter outreach, researcher Higby says it would potentially constitute an illegal use of public funds for electioneering.
Which California Government Agencies Sent CHIRLA Taxpayer Money
The funding sources tell the whole story.
California's Department of Social Services, the Governor's Office of Emergency Services, and the California Arts Council all sent money to CHIRLA.
But the most striking entry on the ledger was a contract secured by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass from then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas – meaning the federal Department of Homeland Security was simultaneously funding an organization that runs a hotline alerting illegal immigrants to the locations of Homeland Security agents.
Trump cut that federal funding the moment he returned to office.
California's checks kept coming.
CHIRLA used the money to run a youth program training high school students in 15 Los Angeles schools to become political activists.
It runs the California Dream Network, mobilizing college students across 30 campuses to push for mass amnesty legislation.
It operates the LA Raids Rapid Response Network – which, according to Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA), ran a Signal hotline that tracked ICE agents in real time and directed protesters to their locations.
When ICE conducted enforcement operations in Los Angeles last June, CHIRLA's executive director took the stage at City Hall alongside Mayor Bass and called for sustained protests.
The protests turned into riots.
Cars were torched, federal officers were attacked, and Trump deployed 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines to restore order.
Officials estimated the riots cost Los Angeles taxpayers more than $30 million.
How Gavin Newsom's Recall Campaign Got $500,000 in Taxpayer Funds
Senator Josh Hawley launched a Senate investigation into CHIRLA in June 2025, demanding internal communications and financial records.
The House Judiciary Committee opened a parallel probe, with Jim Jordan sending letters demanding a full accounting of every dollar CHIRLA received and spent.
Rep. Kiley introduced the No Tax Dollars for Riots Act – backed by President Trump – which would claw back federal funding to CHIRLA and strip the organization of its tax-exempt status.
Then researcher Susan Crabtree added the detail that reframes the entire picture.
CHIRLA – the organization receiving $115 million in taxpayer money – pumped $500,000 into the campaign to save Gavin Newsom from being recalled.
Newsom's government funded CHIRLA.
CHIRLA funded Newsom's recall defense.
The money went out the door of the state treasury and came back to protect the man controlling the state treasury.
Now Newsom has tapped CHIRLA to lead the grassroots organizing for his redistricting ballot initiative – the same organization that ran the Signal hotline directing rioters to ICE agents.
This is the loop: taxpayers fund the protests, the protest organization funds the politician, and the politician keeps the taxpayer money flowing to the protest organization.
Higby says CHIRLA is only the first organization on his list.
California has been funneling public money to activist groups for years, and $115 million to a single protest organization is the first figure documented from the state's own records.
Hawley threatened criminal referrals to the Department of Justice.
Zero excuse – and $115 million in receipts.
Sources:
- Cam Higby, "California Government Paying Protestors Over $100M," X/Twitter, February 21, 2026.
- Victoria Taft, "Investigation Finds Taxpayers to Gavin to CHIRLA to Newsom," PJ Media, February 21, 2026.
- Jennifer Oliver O'Connell, "Kevin Kiley Exposes More of CHIRLA's Money Grift, Connecting Them to Newsom's Redistricting Scam," RedState, August 27, 2025.
- Jennifer Van Laar, "Taxpayer-Funded Riots: Here's What We Found When We Followed the Money in Los Angeles," RedState, June 9, 2025.
- House Judiciary Committee, "House Judiciary Committee Opens Probe into Taxpayer-Funded Group's Potential Ties to LA Anti-ICE Riots," June 2025.
- Fox News, "Senator Launches Investigation into Democratic Org Over Potential Support of LA Rioters," June 11, 2025.
- The Center Square, "California Funds $73.6M to Anti-Deportation Groups, Sparking GOP Audit Demand," June 12, 2025.
