Steve Hilton is demanding federal officials turn over records — including a former federal contractor’s laptop — that he claims could expose what Xavier Becerra knew about migrant children being handed to traffickers during the Biden administration.
uncertain
children → demand → administration
The Republican candidate for governor is targeting his Democratic rival’s tenure as Health and Human Services secretary, alleging Becerra and the Biden White House knew children were being delivered to sex and labor traffickers.
asserted
children → target → traffickers
In a letter sent Monday to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Hilton pointed to a former federal contractor’s laptop that he said had been given to congressional investigators.
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he → send → investigators
The letter identified the whistleblower as Tarek “Joey” Kadourah, who supervised a transportation team for federal contractor MVM that moved migrant children from government facilities to sponsors.
“If the testimony of whistleblowers is accurate, and the contents of the laptop are as reported, the role of Xavier Becerra and the Biden White House in the trafficking of thousands of migrant children represents one of the biggest and most shocking scandals in U.S. government history,” Hilton wrote.
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Hilton → identify → history
Hilton’s campaign reported $406.10 in car service and meal expenses for Kadourah’s travel for interviews in August, according to a campaign finance disclosure.
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campaign → report → disclosure
In a recent interview with journalist Lara Logan, Kadourah alleged agents reported children crying, girls trying to flee during transportation stops and adults with apparent gang tattoos collecting children.
“Some of them even looked like gang members,” Kadourah said, citing what he described as “MS-13 tattoos, Mexican mafia tattoos.”
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he → allege → tattoos
He recalled a military veteran and former corrections officer raising concerns after two men with prison tattoos arrived to collect a child.
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men → recall → child
Kadourah said he repeatedly alerted his supervisor, only to be told: “Hey, they’ve been vetted.
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they → say → supervisor
Everything’s OK.
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Everything → ’ → ?
Hilton wrote that Kadourah’s laptop “apparently contains evidence” that Becerra and the Biden White House knew children were being transported by the government directly to traffickers.
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children → write → traffickers
The letter does not include specifics about the laptop’s records or establish that investigators substantiated Kadourah’s allegations.
Hilton also wrote that his campaign had been informed that Homeland Security Investigations was examining the matter, “including specifically the role of Xavier Becerra.”
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Investigations → include → Becerra
The letter offers no independent confirmation of that assertion.
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letter → offer → assertion
“It’s sad to watch Trump’s chosen candidate Steve Hilton be consumed by his own desperation,” Jonathan Underland, a spokesperson for the Becerra campaign, told The Post in a statement.
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Underland → ’ → statement
“Nothing is working, so he’s inventing Q-Anon brainrot to distract from a weak policy platform that would make billionaires richer and hurt working families.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Department → work → comment
Citing border czar Tom Homan, Hilton said approximately 140,000 children remain unaccounted for.
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children → cite → Homan
The letter does not establish how many were confirmed missing rather than unreachable through government follow-up efforts.
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many → establish → efforts
Hilton also wrote that some children placed in dangerous situations had died.
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children → write → situations
John Fabbricatore, a senior adviser for the Trump administration at HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, told The Post in August that investigators had found more than 40 migrant children dead, though some had since become adults: “We found kids in sex trafficking.
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We → tell → trafficking
We found kids who were murdered, kids who were in slave labor.”
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who → find → labor
Hilton’s letter follows additional reporting by The Post in which a former Biden administration official accused Becerra of referring to migrant children as “little Juanitos and Juanitas” while leading HHS.
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official → follow → HHS
Becerra denied using that language about migrant kids, and Underland defended Becerra’s leadership of HHS by noting, “Jealousy breeds contempt.”
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Jealousy → deny → contempt
Hilton urged Mullin to work with current HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and congressional investigators to establish what Becerra knew and how he responded to warnings from staff and contractors.
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he → urge → staff
“Becerra is now asking the people of California to make him their governor,” Hilton wrote.
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Hilton → ask → California
“They deserve to know the truth about what he did before they cast their votes.”
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they → deserve → votes