Since 2019, California has granted more than $100 million to a left-wing NGO called the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, or CHIRLA. The group has used those or other resources to fight deportations, address “hate incidents,” and craft what it calls “progressive policies.”
CHIRLA and its political arm, CHIRLA Action, are radical. The nonprofit wants to abolish ICE, expand welfare for illegal migrants, and “roll back immigration enforcement.” Some of its programs, like its “Immigrant Political Power Project,” are explicitly political, targeting “new citizens, Latinos, and English learners” in hopes of creating “a voter base from scratch, with enough power to sway state politics.”
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Last week, we went undercover to a CHIRLA get-out-the-vote event at its headquarters in Los Angeles, ahead of the midterm elections. The event featured speeches, a mariachi band, and a press conference. The building was festooned with left-wing iconography, ranging from a massive LGBTQ pride flag to a “Stop ICE” poster.
During the press conference, CHIRLA’s executive director, Angelica Salas, described the group as a 501(c)(3) organization, and said that its members participate in campaigns year-round.
“Every campaign and election cycle is an opportunity for us to flex our electoral muscles,” Salas said. “We will also be paying tribute to the people who have died in custody in our detention centers or in the streets at the hands of ICE.”
Inside, we discovered that CHIRLA was hosting an official L.A. County voting station, with multiple Smartmatic voting tablets and a ballot drop box. After we entered, a woman wearing a neon vest gave us a state-issued voter guide. County Registrar records confirm that CHIRLA was hosting a County Flex Voting Center that day, which the government has deployed to “reach voters with distinct needs.”
We returned to the main room, where a man in a CHIRLA polo shirt, whom we later identified as one of the nonprofit’s employees, agreed to help us vote. He took us into an adjoining room, then went through our ballot line-by-line and relayed endorsements for various races.
“Starting with here, the city, we’ve endorsed Karen Bass,” the employee said, pointing at the incumbent mayor’s name on the ballot. “For the city attorney, we’ve endorsed Marissa Roy.”
The employee also recommended Xavier Becerra for governor and Rob Bonta for attorney general, noting that Bonta, in particular, has been “very supportive.” Though he had mentioned that we were “free to vote” for other candidates, the “endorsements” were crystal clear.
This potentially violates state law. In California, it is a misdemeanor to “solicit a vote or speak to a voter on the subject of marking the voter’s ballot” within “100 feet” of “the entrance to a building that contains a polling place” or ballot-drop location. Given the voting infrastructure in CHIRLA’s office that day, the employee’s remarks could constitute a prosecutable offense.
CHIRLA’s voting operation might also violate federal law, which prohibits 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations from electioneering. According to the IRS, charitable organizations cannot endorse candidates or engage in “voter education” efforts “with evidence of bias that . . . would favor one candidate over the other.” Though CHIRLA has a related 501(c)(4) political organization, CHIRLA Action, the voting center was advertised as a CHIRLA event, the employee was wearing a CHIRLA shirt, and when we asked him to which organization he belonged, he replied: “I’m with CHIRLA.”
When reached for comment, CHIRLA defended its employee’s conduct. “Our Civic Engagement staff are trained to give every voter who asks for assistance clear, accurate guidance,” said a CHIRLA representative. “This is yet another example of the dirty, underhanded tactics anti-immigrant opponents have used to target CHIRLA because of who we are.”
CHIRLA has long ridden the edge between charitable work and partisan politics. This time, CHIRLA may have crossed the line. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has been aggressive with nonprofit-law enforcement, should take decisive action. If CHIRLA has violated federal regulations, the IRS should strip the radical group of its nonprofit status once and for all.