Millions of dollars earmarked for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) wildfire relief fund, which was meant to help victims of the January 2025 fires recover from the devastation, went instead toward unrelated expenses, including more than $14 million diverted to controlling crowds during California’s anti-deportation protests the following summer.
According to California Department of Finance records, $12.8 million of the Los Angeles wildfire response and recovery funds were used to pay for the deployment of California Highway Patrol officers sent to police demonstrations against Immigration and Customs Enforcement in downtown LA last year.
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“These activities included traffic control, tactical alert, and monitoring of demonstrations to ensure safety of the public and assist other government agencies,” according to a cost breakdown disclosed in the latest report of the fund’s disbursements.
The expenditure report shows that the state spent another $1.5 million of fund allocations on service contracts with the California governor’s Office of Emergency Services “to aid and support local law enforcement amidst nationwide demonstrations.”
Los Angeles was the epicenter of a wave of anti-ICE demonstrations in June 2025, when the Trump administration launched raids targeting illegal immigrants living in and around the city. The demonstrations, some of which turned violent, resulted in hundreds of arrests, as organized groups overwhelmed local law enforcement on a near-nightly basis.
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Though considerable fire relief funding was budgeted out to such crowd-control operations, relatively few dollars of Newsom’s multibillion-dollar disaster recovery fund have actually reached people still rebuilding from the Los Angeles-area fires, and much of it remains untouched despite ample money on hand.
As first reported by NBC Los Angeles on Thursday, at least 60% of the initial $1.5 billion budget, or roughly $895 million, has yet to be allocated.
The stall in critical relief funding comes almost a year and a half after the California governor signed a sweeping $2.5 billion relief package to “jumpstart recovery” in the aftermath of the deadly and destructive blazes, which displaced thousands and killed at least 31 people between the Palisades and Eaton fires.
At the time, Newsom’s office said the special session legislation was supposed to “expedite” emergency response efforts and “streamline” construction projects so that buildings destroyed by the inferno could be quickly rebuilt.
“Thanks to our partners in the legislature, we’re providing over $2.5 billion in immediate relief — expediting initial firestorm response and recovery efforts,” Newsom said in a statement announcing the fund’s authorization. “We’re also directing millions of dollars to help local governments speed up building approvals — so folks can rebuild their homes faster.”
Newsom added that California was assisting impacted Angelenos without any “conditions.”
“Unlike MAGA Republicans in Washington who talk about delaying relief for political purposes, California is supporting our people with no strings attached,” Newsom said.
Newsom’s office told NBC Los Angeles that there were limits on what the funds could be used for, suggesting that the expenses must qualify for repayment by the federal government.
“The $2.5 billion authorized in January 2025 was specifically designed as an advance of funds for FEMA reimbursable projects, to accelerate recovery and provide resources for immediate action as the federal government processes claims over years,” Newsom spokeswoman Diana Crofts-Pelayo said.
However, the text of the California Assembly bill that approved the appropriations makes no mention of a federal reimbursement requirement stipulating that relief spending follow Federal Emergency Management Agency guidelines for eligible disaster-related uses.
As outlined by the state statute, the fund’s allowable uses “include, but are not limited to,” the litany of public safety actions listed in the legislation.
While Newsom’s administration indicated that the fund was dedicated to expenses that FEMA would eventually repay, the bill, as written, does not explicitly require that spending be limited to FEMA-reimbursable activities.
The Washington Examiner contacted the legislation’s co-sponsors, California state Sen. Scott Wiener and Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, for clarification on the funds being authorized for purposes other than direct fire recovery.
Some of the $605 million in relief funds spent to date reimbursed first responders for actions undertaken during the fires. A combined $37 million was paid out to the Los Angeles County and city fire departments for their work. CHP, the state’s highway patrol agency, took in $16 million for monitoring road closures, assisting with evacuations, and providing “looting patrol” in evacuated areas.
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As part of the relief package, the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development also set aside $3 million in financial assistance for small businesses and nonprofit organizations struggling in the wake of the wildfires.
Los Angeles County was separately given $121.6 million in relief funds to temporarily offset lost tax revenue in anticipation that some residents would delay tax payments on property damaged or destroyed in the fires.
As of February, the most recent reporting month, the relief fund has remaining balances of $953 million in one control section and $1 billion in the other.
