Horace Cooper Slams Exploitation of Illegal Immigrant Children in California

14 Jul 2025Horace Cooper Slams Exploitation of Illegal Immigrant Children in California

After ten juveniles were found during an ICE raid at a California marijuana facility, at least eight of them unaccompanied by parents, Project 21 Chairman Horace Cooper slammed California Gavin Newsom's lackadaisical approach to protecting illegal immigrant children.

On Fox News' "Hannity," Horace told guest host Jason Chaffetz and fellow panelist Dan Turrentine:

Families that are Americans and they struggle with childcare: If you bring your child to a dangerous workplace, you can be arrested, and if you leave them locked in your car while you work, you can be arrested. These kids have no parents anywhere in sight, and it's possible they were actually working.

Where is the most progressive state in our country when it comes down to exploiting these children in this way, and even having them abandoned so that others who wanna have a weed farm can make the maximum dollar that they can? This is really, really where the left has just stepped off the main road, and they've gone down to Cuckooville. They need to turn around….

These children - now there's some 300,000 of them that got lost during the Biden administration - we need to have a national effort to figure out where those kids are and get them reunited. But the governor should have, at minimum, said nowhere in California will we tolerate the exploitation of children. Children working as a miniature slaves because they're tiny and are able to access these tools and things better than adults? Those days are way long gone. That's what he should've been getting upset about.

And when the American people watch, they wonder: Where is he? What's his commitment to? …

And he plans to be the next nominee? Wow.

For more on how immigration affects black Americans specifically, see Project 21's publication, "What Immigration Policy Means for Black America."