Tipsheet

Steve Hilton Isn’t Even Governor Yet, and He’s Already Exposing California Welfare Fraud

Dmitri Bolt
Dmitri Bolt  |  February 10, 2026 11:00 AM

California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton hasn’t even been elected yet, and he’s already doing good for the state. In late January, Hilton launched CalDOGE, a self-styled California Department of Government Efficiency initiative, and within days, his team claims to have uncovered widespread abuse in the state’s welfare system. 

While it’s no secret that California extends benefits to illegal immigrants, Hilton says his team has found something even more egregious: Mexican citizens allegedly posing as illegal immigrants to obtain Medi-Cal benefits on the taxpayers’ dime, then returning to live full-time in Mexico.

"We already announced it. We announced it last week, CalDOGE, the California Department of Government Efficiency, and we are already working on a volunteer basis," Hilton revealed to Grant Stinchfield on Real America's Voice in early February. "We had a meeting this morning with the team, going through. We have an announcement next week on fraud that we've discovered through CalDOGE. Just in the 10 days we've been in operation, we've got fraud investigators, we've got an AI partner that's going through the actual budgets and flagging suspicious activity that we can then follow up on. So you're going to be seeing a lot in the weeks ahead just from us before we're even elected."

Hitlon went on to reveal that several of his allies running for various other state positions have joined him on his initiative.

Once I'm elected governor and once the team I'm running with is elected governor, that is for Attorney General to replace that dope as you accurately described him, Michael Gates, who is the city attorney in Huntington Beach, a fantastic fighter. He sued Newsom over housing mandates, voter ID. He's going to be prosecuting. And the key person is someone called Herb Morgan, who's running with me on what we call the golden ticket for our Golden State. He's running for state controller. The state controller has the power to audit and really open the books. Any organization receiving state money. We made the announcement together on with my lieutenant governor running mate, Gloria Romero. We're going to be all over this, but we're getting to work now.

"CalDOGE is actually up and running. As I say, we've got real work going on," Hilton added.

"Can you give me an example?" Stinchfield asked. "Are there some indications of fraud? Where is it that you found?"

Yeah, I mean, many. I mean, so we do remember that the origin of this was back in December last year. I set up a tip line, Califraud.com, to start getting the information. And the things that have been coming in are just unbelievable. Just one example in terms of the Medi-Cal, the California version of Medicaid. So we've received information about doctors prescribing Medi-Cal benefits to Mexican citizens living in Mexico posing as illegal immigrants in order to benefit from Gavin Newsom's free health care for illegal immigrants. They don't even live here.

"So we now have fake illegal immigrants claiming health care benefits paid for by us," Hilton said. "It's just unbelievable."

"You've got a Mexican citizen coming in pretending to be an illegal alien because you're giving benefits to all the illegal aliens in California. The insanity is so crazy," Stinchfield added.

This comes as both California Governor and 2028 presidential hopeful, Gavin Newsom, and the state’s Attorney General, Rob Bonta, have denied that any fraud exists, even as the federal government has moved to uncover it.

"The reality is, California DOJ, our law enforcement agents, our investigators, and our prosecutors have been on the ground, in our communities, fighting fraud, waste, and abuse for years," Bonta boasted. "California has developed real expertise in identifying this type of fraud. We've got a track record of actually holding bad actors accountable, and we've successfully recovered, again, nearly $3 billion in stolen taxpayer dollars."

However, just because some fraud was found doesn't mean the problem isn't systemic. Minnesota had billions in unchecked fraud, and California’s programs are far better funded, far more expansive, and hindered by an even more bloated bureaucracy.

Even Nick Shirley, an independent journalist and YouTuber who previously exposed hundreds of millions of dollars in childcare fraud in Minnesota, has now made California his next target.

Steve Hilton is increasingly emerging as the Golden State’s next best hope. Without holding office, without the power or resources of the governor’s mansion, he has already done more to challenge waste, fraud, and government complacency than the entire Newsom administration. While California’s political establishment insists there’s nothing to see, Hilton is asking the questions officials refuse to answer and forcing accountability where it’s long been absent.