Steve Hilton escalated his attacks on Xavier Becerra Thursday by releasing a new campaign video featuring a whistleblower’s footage of more than 200 migrant children sent to the same container storage site.
The three-minute video depicts hundreds of kids gathered at what he describes as a “container park,” interspersed with an interview of an anonymous whistleblower whose identity is concealed.
“SHOCKING new whistleblower testimony: 200 migrant kids sent to the same container park. Xavier Becerra KNEW and covered it up. Employees who objected were FIRED,” Hilton wrote on X alongside the video.
The release marks the latest salvo in Hilton’s campaign to make Becerra’s handling of unaccompanied migrant children during the Biden administration a central issue in California’s gubernatorial race.
In the video, the whistleblower alleges that workers who raised concerns about the placement of migrant children faced retaliation.
According to the woman, one employee discovered during a background review that more than 200 migrant children had been sent to the same address.
After checking the location on Google Maps, she allegedly found it was not a residential neighborhood but “just like a lot with containers.”
“There was like an anti-trafficking number that if we suspected that there was trafficking involved, we were directed to call that number,” the whistleblower said.
“She took it upon herself to call that number, to let them know, we’ve been sending a lot of children here. And the next day, she got terminated as well.”
Asked whether Becerra could have been unaware of the alleged situation, the whistleblower responded: “No, he was aware.”
The woman also described another case involving a 13-year-old girl from El Salvador whose proposed sponsor was allegedly flagged as wanted by international law enforcement after staff raised concerns.
“I remember taking that case to FBI agents that were working there,” she said. “Within a day or two, we get the email back that says that this sponsor was wanted by the Interpol.”
She alleged a federal employee who continued investigating the case was escorted from the facility and later fired.
“Mind you, she’s working for the government. She’s trying to protect these children,” the whistleblower said. “Then she got fired.”
Becerra’s campaign forcefully rejected Hilton’s latest accusations, arguing the Republican candidate was attempting to rewrite history while aligning himself with President Donald Trump.
“Where Sec. Becerra rebuilt the child protection systems Trump gutted, Steve Hilton has proudly allied himself with the president who put those children in harm’s way — who illegally sent a father to a foreign prison, whose separation policies continue to take children away from their parents, and whose ICE agents shot two fathers dead this month. Hilton is bought in. He doesn’t get to cash out now,” Jonathan Underland, a spokesman for the Becerra campaign, claimed.
Becerra has previously defended his record, telling Congress that HHS’s legal authority over unaccompanied migrant children ends once they are released to approved sponsors unless Congress grants additional authority.
The Republican candidate also launched a website titled “BecerraMigrantChildAbuseCamps.com,” where he asks anyone with information related to what he describes as Becerra’s “migrant child abuse camps” to come forward and submit tips.
Hilton’s campaign previously released another whistleblower video this week alleging migrant children were subjected to abuse, trafficking and inadequate vetting procedures at the Pomona Fairplex emergency intake center, one of three temporary California facilities established to house unaccompanied migrant minors during the surge at the southern border.
The Fairplex was among multiple emergency intake sites opened nationwide as nearly 480,000 unaccompanied migrant children crossed the U.S.-Mexico border while Becerra led HHS between 2021 and 2025.
The allegations echo findings from a 2023 New York Times investigation that reported thousands of migrant children released from federal custody later ended up in exploitative labor situations.
The general election for Governor of California will take place on November 3, 2026.
Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton advanced from the June open primary, beating out a crowded field of high-profile candidates including billionaire activist Tom Steyer, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, and former U.S. Representative Katie Porter.
