The Immigration Corruption Complex
By Bob Smith, Commander, U.S. Navy (Retired)
On Thursday, July 10th, federal agents carried out judicial ICE warrants in Carpinteria and Camarillo, not targeting peaceful farmworkers but addressing much darker issues. Fourteen minors were found working illegally at marijuana farms owned by Glass House Farms. Eight of them were unaccompanied, trafficked children, likely victims of the extensive border pipeline we have permitted to grow. This wasn’t a simple paperwork mistake; it was child exploitation: violation of federal immigration laws, state labor laws, and California’s legal age requirements for working in cannabis operations.
So why did Congressman Salud Carbajal show up? Not to condemn the trafficking. Not to condemn the use of illegal child labor on a marijuana farm in violation of California law.
U.S. Representative Carbajal showed up to protest the federal agents enforcing the warrant!
In California, politics comes before kids. And the system here is built to protect donors, non-profits, and demographics, not justice… or kids.
Follow the Money
Graham Farrar – a major donor to Congressman Salud Carbajal, the Santa Barbara County Democratic Central Committee, Assemblyman Gregg Hart, and Governor Gavin Newsom – runs Glass House Farms. His name appears repeatedly in FEC and state campaign finance records, giving thousands to the same political machine that now claims outrage over “ICE aggression,” when a federally sanctioned raid uncovered child labor trafficking at their facilities.
But Farrar isn’t alone. He’s part of a well-oiled network:
Donors fund politicians like Carbajal.
Politicians stoke outrage at immigration enforcement to earn progressive brownie points.
Cities and counties hold “emergency meetings” to allocate taxpayer dollars to non-government organizations (NGOs) defending undocumented immigrants.
Those NGOs often include family members, donors, staffers, or former campaign allies, all cashing in on a broken system for the non-profits they are associated with.
And the cycle repeats, funded by your taxes.
This is California’s real corruption, a revolving door of nonprofit enrichment, political theater, and donor self-interest, all under the mask of “compassion.”
From Grants to Influence: The NGO-Politician Pipeline
This isn’t limited to one farm or one politician. In California, the NGO-Politician relationship is institutionalized.
Groups like CHIRLA (the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights), which received over $35 million in state grants, have been tied to anti-ICE protests, while its leadership appears at events with Gavin Newsom, Karen Bass, and multiple state legislators.
In Orange County, a supervisor funneled over $6 million to a nonprofit headed up by his daughter.
In San Francisco, immigrant legal aid networks funded by taxpayers helped block deportations, then endorsed the very officials who secured their funding.
A dissertation could be written on the $24 billion spent on homelessness with little to no accountability.
It’s a self-sustaining loop that feeds political power and ensures no one is ever held accountable. In immigration, this promotes sanctuary, which shields illegal labor systems, labor trafficking, and child exploitation.
A Local Example: Carpinteria
Just look at what happened in Carpinteria after the raids on Glass House Farms.
Congressman Carbajal doubled down on his rhetoric with inflammatory claims in Noozhawk that “brown people” are being targeted to meet “xenophobic quotas.” The facts reveal a targeted operation against criminal exploitation, not indiscriminate profiling.
That very night, the Carpinteria City Council held a special session. Instead of investigating the child labor or the business involved, they approved emergency funds to local NGOs that advocate for undocumented immigrants, including the same organizations that help shield illegal labor operations like this from scrutiny.
This all happened even though Carpinteria has had a budget deficit for years and has already burned through nearly all of its financial surplus. Carpinteria’s General Fund mid-year report already showed a $1 million+ shortfall. Rather than fix roads or restore police funding, your local leaders prioritized protecting state and federal crimes, the political network that profits from it, and the system that enables child trafficking.
Before the local ICE events this weekend, Santa Barbara County Supervisors cut $240,000 in June from the Sheriff’s office budget for cannabis compliance to fund NGOs providing mental health services for those affected by the immigration climate. It likely wouldn’t have mattered in this case, because when immigration is involved, county sheriffs won’t respond, due to SB 54 sanctuary laws.
This Isn’t About Compassion; It’s About Political Control
Let’s stop pretending this is about helping poor migrants escape hardship. If that were true, these same politicians would be furious about child labor and trafficking. Instead, they cover for it. Aside from the apparent use of low-wage labor for wealthy donors and money funneled to favored NGOs, there’s a larger political game at play.
California is bleeding population; citizens are leaving in droves. Families, jobs, and businesses are migrating to red states where housing is affordable, jobs are available, and crime isn’t excused. This is the larger game being played way above the heads of local politicians.
The U.S. Constitution originally set congressional representation at one member per 30,000 people, reflecting the intimate scale of early American democracy. As the population grew, Congress expanded the House after each census, until the Reapportionment Act of 1929 capped the total number of representatives at 435, where it has remained ever since. Today, that means each congressional district represents roughly 750,000 people, more than 25 times the original ratio. By propping up systems that encourage illegal immigration, they’re helping preserve population counts in shrinking blue states, which in turn protect congressional seats, electoral votes, and the long-term control of their party.
California has a citizen deficit each year, with more people leaving than arriving. Only international immigration keeps California’s population slightly growing. We have already lost one congressional seat after the 2020 Census. Analysts project we could lose up to four more after the 2030 census, while Florida and Texas gain four seats each.
Congressional seats and electoral votes aren’t based on citizenship; they’re based on total population. That means the undocumented population, legal or not, counts.
They think they're standing up for the vulnerable. But they’re just ensuring the political machine keeps its grip on power, even if it means turning a blind eye to child trafficking and labor exploitation in their backyards.
So, what happens?
Democrats double down on illegal immigration. Not just for future voters (that’s a longer game), but to maintain the population headcount now. Headcount that gets anchored in urban districts, which then sprawl out over rural areas during redistricting, turning swaths of California blue. This isn’t a theory. It’s precisely what has been happening in California, Arizona, and parts of Texas for decades.
Is it a coincidence that in 2020, blue states lost districts and electoral votes to red states, and then President Joe Biden, or the establishment controlling the White House with an autopen, opened the borders?
This is a modern-day three-fifths compromise, but now it’s five fifths. In the 1800s, slave states inflated their political power by counting enslaved people who couldn’t vote as three-fifths of a person. Today, states like California do the same, counting millions of undocumented immigrants who also can’t vote to preserve congressional districts and Electoral College clout. It’s a cynical numbers game: people used for power but denied full participation. The system doesn’t care if they’re trafficked, exploited, or live in the shadows, as long as they’re counted.
The numbers don’t lie. If current projections hold, Democrats stand to lose up to 10 electoral votes after the 2030 census, enough to make winning the presidency in 2032 nearly impossible without a dramatic shift. That’s why keeping the population count inflated has become a political necessity.
It’s Time to Break the Cycle
We didn’t just inherit this crisis; it was created on purpose. And the political class and NGOs benefit from keeping it going.
ICE didn’t raid a church or a daycare. They raided a child-trafficking marijuana farm, and they had a federal warrant to do it.
Salud Carbajal showed up to protect the operation, not the kids.
Why? Because the owner is a donor, he’s part of the larger establishment’s political strategy with the population, and the backlash fuels the next round of NGO funding and more campaign support.
If you’re wondering why things feel broken in California, it’s because they are.
This state has perfected the art of emotional extortion, weaponizing social issues to enrich insiders, and selectively enforcing regulations or the law when it’s in the supermajority’s interest.
We can’t keep looking the other way.
Carbajal, Rouse, Capps, Lee, et. al. was an embarrassment on the Local and National stage---out with them all please!
Thank you Cmdr. Smith for continuing to shine a light on this national disgrace. It should be obvious to all, the Democratic Party is no more than a criminal enterprise.
The recent standoff in Carpinteria and Camarillo with ICE Agents received national coverage and serves as an embarrassment to our communities.
BTW, could it be a Federal arrest warrant is coming for Carbajal, by his deliberately doxxing of a Federal Agent resulting in their injury? How is it he is not already in custody?