Gavin Newsom has granted approximately $1 billion to an army of nonprofits that has encouraged unchecked numbers of migrants to enter the country.
Former President Joe Biden oversaw an unprecedented wave of migration across the southwestern border of the United States.
Some border states sought to stop the wave of illegal immigration on their own. California, on the other hand, welcomed the flood.
Newsom funded groups that backed migration, fought deportation orders in the courts, and led street protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
These groups often operate under the guise of “humanitarianism” or “immigration justice,” but many are in fact left-wing activist groups that use propaganda, lawfare, and street protests to transform America’s demographics and build political power for California Democrats — all on the public dime.
California saw more than 400,000 illegal immigrants between 2021 and 2023 alone. And under Newsom’s leadership, the nation’s largest “sanctuary” state granted hundreds of millions of dollars to nonprofits that variously provided migrants with transportation assistance, shelter, social services, and legal protection.
The expenditures have been enormous. According to our review of state funding records, under Newsom, California has granted massive contracts for migrant-related services: more than $250 million to Catholic Charities; $85 million to Jewish Family Services; $12 million to Centro Legal de la Raza; $23 million to the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area; and more.
Many nonprofits benefiting from these funds are shockingly radical.
Al Otro Lado, a nonprofit that has been awarded more than $2 million by California since Newsom took office, helps purported asylum-seekers enter the United States — hence the group’s name, “to the other side.”
On social media, Al Otro Lado touts its efforts to provide “freedom of movement” to migrants. In addition to providing legal guidance, the group deploys volunteers to “remote migration routes to leave water, food, and essential supplies.”
According to its own materials, Al Otro Lado is anti-borders and openly hostile to the American nation. In one Instagram video, the group’s litigating attorney Diego Teixeira clumsily summarized the view: “I honestly just believe that there’s no reason for why we should have borders.” The organization did not respond to our comment request.
Oasis Legal Services, another taxpayer-funded group, has worked on helping “queer and trans immigrants navigate immigration relief and benefits.”
In a recent report, the group boasted that “the odds of winning an asylum case go up to 99% for clients when they are represented by an Oasis team member.” (The group denies that it encourages the entry of immigrants.)
In a recent annual report, Oasis highlighted its work of apparently representing migrants with a sexually transmitted disease. In 2024, the report said, “one in six of new clients is living with HIV and the rest are all at significant risk of contracting HIV.” In 2025, the proportion increased to one in five.
In response to a request for comment, Adam Ryan Chang, Oasis’s executive director, said people “living with HIV are not barred from entering the United States on that basis.”
Once unauthorized people cross the border, Newsom tries to ensure they stay.
He has granted more than $100 million to nonprofits that fight deportation orders — sometimes even for clients with criminal convictions.
One of the most prominent anti-deportation nonprofits is the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, or ImmDef, which has been awarded at least $6.7 million in state funds since Newsom took office.
The group portrays the United States as an oppressor, denouncing the Trump administration’s “white supremacist” agenda and accusing ICE of causing “terror.” ImmDef has explicitly called to “abolish the immigration prison system” and to “abolish ICE” — which, in effect, would abolish the border itself.
ImmDef, which did not respond to our comment request, is open about its radical views and ambitions.
It’s impossible to find out precisely how many illegal-alien criminals have benefited from the “merits-blind” policies of ImmDef and other taxpayer-funded groups. That’s thanks to a California law that prohibits officials from disclosing defendants’ immigration status in criminal court without a judge’s permission.
In 2023, the taxpayer-funded San Diego County Immigrant Legal Defense Program came under scrutiny for allegedly using county funds to provide immigration legal services to 34 noncitizens convicted of crimes such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and acts “involving moral turpitude.”
State Assemblymember Mia Bonta, wife of Attorney General Rob Bonta, is working to extend state-funded legal aid to all illegal immigrants fighting deportation.
The final part of Newsom’s illegal immigration machine is the activist element, which is designed to resist federal authorities who would challenge California’s status as a “sanctuary state.”
Last summer, the conflict between President Donald Trump and Governor Newsom over immigration enforcement came to a head. Protesters launched anti-ICE demonstrations around the country, most notably in Los Angeles, where the riots cost the city $32 million and led to hundreds of arrests.
Agitators in LA burned cars, looted stores, shut down the freeway, and threw rocks, bottles, and fireworks at law enforcement officers — all, effectively, to stop Trump from deporting illegal aliens from the United States.
Activists framed the protests as spontaneous and grassroots, but behind the scenes, a web of powerful, and sometimes publicly funded, organizations drove the narrative, and, in some cases, the “direct action” in the streets.
At the center of this web is the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles (CHIRLA), which, since Newsom took office, has been awarded some $110 million in California taxpayer funds.
CHIRLA can be described as a one-stop activist machine, with the ability to produce propaganda, engage in legal action, and — most importantly — get people into the streets, according to a June 2025 letter from leading members of the House Judiciary Committee.
The group coordinates the L.A. Rapid Response Network, which tracks ICE raids and takes “direct action to shut down detention centers.” During the wave of protests in L.A., CHIRLA activists agitated on social media, allegedly led a street protest (according to the House Judiciary Committee letter), and called for a “Summer of Resistance.”
At the height of the unrest, CHIRLA’s executive director, Angelica Salas, spoke at a street protest, telling crowds that ICE agents were conducting a “militarized siege” against illegal migrants. “We are going to stop Trump’s terror campaign against our community,” Salas said. “We will not stop marching. We will not stop fighting.”
Congress took notice. The House Judiciary Committee launched an investigation to determine whether CHIRLA was using public funds to “support violent criminal activity that impedes the enforcement of federal immigration law.” Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri accused the group of “bankrolling civil unrest” and threatened a criminal investigation. (Hawley’s office did not respond to request for comment.)
CHIRLA denied Hawley’s accusations, claiming that its protest tactics are “rooted in non-violent advocacy, community safety, and democratic values.” (In response to our comment request, the group suggested that City Journal was trying to “weaponize government power and intimidate advocates like CHIRLA.”)
CHIRLA was not alone. Al Otro Lado released a statement opposing the ICE raids and standing “in solidarity” with the protesters.
The Central American Resource Center of Los Angeles, an immigrant-services nonprofit, was reportedly “heavily involved” in the demonstrations. The center — which features a picture of an anti-ICE protester on its website — has been awarded $18 million by the Newsom administration since 2019.
We reached out to the governor’s office for comment on this story. In response, a spokesperson denied that California was “‘funding criminal activity’ or bypassing public health law.”
Who benefits from this system? Certainly, the migrants who entered the United States without documentation and would like to stay.
But also, and perhaps more importantly, the existing system benefits the army of nonprofits, lawyers, activists, and bureaucrats who keep the system running — and keep politicians like Newsom in power.
The work of these groups involves not only advances an open-borders political agenda, but also maintains the flow of funds to left-wing activists who can use the issue of immigration to achieve their broader vision of revolution.
From this perspective, the estimated 2 million illegal migrants in California are pawns — merely the instruments of an activist class that would like to see America burn.
Christopher F. Rufo is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor of City Journal, and the author of America’s Cultural Revolution. Susan Crabtree is national correspondent at RealClearPolitics and coauthor of Fool’s Gold.
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