Steve Hilton, the Republican running for California governor, posted a video on X that uses AI to show what he calls Xavier Becerra’s migrant child abuse camps. He said cameras aren’t allowed inside, so the video is based on public reports and a whistleblower’s account. It ends with a link to check the claims and a note that AI made or changed it. Online, some people backed the message while others said the AI version isn’t real proof or just looks made up.
The AI-generated clip appears to show a large indoor facility with rows of tents and lines of children. A man resembling Xavier Becerra confronts a woman at a computer, saying, “Faster. We have to move faster,” and later, “Mister Basera, these are the 200 children connected to the same address. Do you realize how bad this is for my image?” The woman raises concerns that “these children are being sent to child sex traffickers” and “exploited for child labor,” including a claim that “one fourteen-year-old boy just had his arm ripped off in an industrial accident.” Officers then remove her as she protests, “No, please.”
The footage ends with a close-up of the man, a brief clip of the real Becerra speaking, and on-screen text directing viewers to BecerraMigrantAbuse.com along with a notice that the ad was “generated or substantially altered using artificial intelligence.”
According to the post caption, the recreation is based on publicly reported allegations and whistleblower testimony because “cameras aren’t allowed inside Becerra’s migrant child abuse camps.” The video does not claim to be actual footage from any facility, and the specific events and dialogue depicted have not been independently confirmed as occurring exactly as shown.
How People Are Reacting to Hilton’s AI Camp Video
Some users praised its effectiveness as a message, with one writing, “That’s an effective message. Done really well to get the message,” and another saying, “Good! That image will stick in voters’ minds.”
Others focused on the underlying allegations and lack of cameras, stating, “If you’re not allowing people to take pictures or film what you’re doing with innocent children, then you are definitely abusing them. Plain and simple,” while a further comment asked, “Why hasn’t he been arrested?”
A separate group of replies questioned the use of AI itself. One user wrote, “This is just embarrassing, dude. ‘We turned to AI’ is a nice way of saying ‘We made some *expletive* up’. Stop it.”
Another said, “I support you, but this is stupid,” and a third noted, “I get why that simulated reenactment is alarming, but an AI video isn’t proof. What’s the actual documented source for the claim?”
The clip has become one more element in the ongoing exchange between the two candidates over Becerra’s record at HHS as the California governor’s race continues.
