Steve Hilton, a California Republican seeking to win the governor's race next year, told Newsmax on Monday that Democrats have lost all hold on reality by supporting criminal illegal immigrants and those violently obstructing Immigrations and Customs Enforcement deportation efforts.
Protesters confronted federal officials Thursday as Customs and Border Protection vehicles dispersed through the agricultural community of Camarillo, California. Authorities used gas canisters to clear the crowd outside a cannabis farm. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is term-limited from seeking a third term and is positioning himself to run for president in 2028, scolded the images of farm workers and activists running through white smoke.
The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that federal law enforcement arrested at least 361 illegal immigrants in raids at cannabis farms in Camarillo and Carpinteria, including those convicted of rape, child molestation, and kidnapping. DHS also said at least 14 migrant children were "rescued from potential exploitation, forced labor and human trafficking."
"Every single day they give us more evidence that they are totally on the wrong side of every kind of principle, value, the law, morality," Hilton told "Rob Schmitt Tonight" "What they are doing now with this position that they've taken? They are standing not just with illegal immigrants – we've known that for years – they're now standing with child traffickers, people who [use] child slave labor. Some of the people that were arrested were child molesters, and that's who they're standing up for. And the other point I'd make about all that and the violence. … Completely disgraceful. This is now a pattern in California. The Democrats in charge never enforce the law.
"They're refusing to enforce not just federal immigration law, state law, even their own sanctuary state law that they constantly cite to say, we can't do anything here. I've read that law. I will enforce that law. It is very clear that when you're dealing with people who have been convicted of a crime in the last 15 years, and the list of crimes is very long, not just violent crimes, all the ones that we saw there in connection to the pot farm, but crimes like illegal possession of a firearm, drug offenses, long list of crimes within the sanctuary state law that specifically in the law it says you can have discretion to cooperate with ICE. If we had that in California, you wouldn't need these kinds of raids. You would be able to deal with it in a responsible way at the courthouse, in jails, and so on."
GET TODAY NEWSMAX+:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America with more than 30 million people watching!
Reuters Institute reports NEWSMAX is one of the top news brands in the U.S.
You need to watch NEWSMAX today.
Get it with great shows from Rob Schmitt, Greta Van Susteren, Greg Kelly, Carl Higbie, Rob Finnerty – and many more!
Find the NEWSMAX channel on your cable system – Go Here Now
BEST OFFER:
Sign up for NEWSMAX+ and get NEWSMAX, our streaming channel NEWSMAX2 and our military channel World at War.
Find hundreds of shows, movies and specials.
Even get Jon Voight's special series and President Trump's comedy programs and much more!
Watch NEWSMAX+ on your smartphone or home TV app.
Watch NEWSMAX anytime, anywhere!
Start your FREE trial now: NewsmaxPlus.com
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.