Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton intensified his attacks against Democratic opponent Xavier Becerra during a campaign stop in Fresno, accusing the former U.S. health secretary of placing migrant children at risk.
Hilton displayed a wanted-style poster featuring Becerra and shared video testimony from a child who passed through the federal government’s system for unaccompanied minors.
Driving the news: Hilton alleged that Becerra pressured the Department of Health and Human Services to move children out of crowded shelters and place them with adult sponsors more quickly.
Hilton argued that the accelerated process weakened safeguards used to verify sponsors.
He alleged that the resulting placements exposed children to sex trafficking, labor exploitation and disappearance.
One child featured by Hilton alleged that he was threatened with deportation and that federal officials threatened retaliation against his family.
Hilton described the facilities operated during Becerra’s tenure as “migrant child abuse camps.”
The backstory: Becerra led the Department of Health and Human Services from March 2021 until the end of the Biden administration.
The department’s Office of Refugee Resettlement is responsible for caring for unaccompanied migrant children and determining whether prospective sponsors are suitable to receive them.
Investigators found that:
16% of the reviewed files lacked documentation showing that one or more required safety checks had been completed.
Nineteen percent of children released while certain background checks were pending had files that were never updated with the results.
22% of the cases did not receive timely follow-up calls.
The inspector general recommended additional safeguards, better documentation and stronger monitoring. The department agreed with the recommendations.
Reality check: The inspector general’s findings documented deficiencies in the federal program but did not conclude that Becerra personally directed abuse or characterize the facilities as “abuse camps.”
Becerra has denied Hilton’s allegations.
What they’re saying: Becerra’s campaign responded by turning the criticism back on Hilton and President Donald Trump.
The campaign accused Hilton of supporting an administration whose immigration policies separate children from their parents and cited recent fatal encounters involving federal immigration agents.
The big picture: The allegations mark an increasingly combative phase of California’s gubernatorial campaign.
Becerra and Hilton advanced from the state’s June primary and will face each other in the Nov. 3 general election. Becerra finished first with 28.1 percent of the vote, followed by Hilton with 24.6 percent.
Hilton has also challenged Becerra to participate in six televised debates. Becerra’s campaign says the candidates will debate but has not committed to Hilton’s proposed schedule.