Nick Shirley’s new video documents migrants, including children, living in tents on Skid Row in California and highlights the human cost of failed policies and leadership in the state.
Nick Shirley traveled to California and recorded interviews with migrants who have been living on the street, some of them children, in what is known as Skid Row. The footage paints a stark picture of people who arrived hoping for a better life and instead sleep in tents and on sidewalks. Shirley approaches the work as a reporter and speaks directly with those affected to let their voices be heard.
Shirley is no stranger to tough reporting; he previously exposed rampant fraud in Minneapolis childcare programs and brought attention to systemic problems through on-the-ground investigation. In California he found families who said they’d spent years trying to make a life in the state yet ended up homeless. “We came here to change our lives and now we are living like dogs,” the couple told Shirley. “We aren’t animals; we’re human.”
The video shows people who emigrated from Colombia and other countries and who say they came to California seeking opportunity but now live on the street. Shirley conducts many of his interviews in Spanish, which lets him hear details many English-only reporters miss. That language access gives the footage an immediacy and clarity that amplifies the stories of those camped on sidewalks and under tarps.
These scenes are the result of policy choices that failed to provide shelter, public safety, or immigration enforcement in ways that protect communities and vulnerable migrants alike. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is running for president in 2028 in a crowded field. Other Democrat candidates running in 2028 are Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, and Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin. The contrast between campaign promises and day-to-day reality in places like Skid Row is hard to ignore for voters who value law, order, and responsible governance.
Children living amid tents and trash face risks most Americans would find unacceptable, from exposure and illness to the constant danger of crime. Local hospitals and first responders routinely handle a higher burden when homelessness is widespread, and communities pay the cost in safety and services. Those outcomes are not accidental; they reflect how policy priorities and enforcement decisions play out on the pavement where families sleep.
Shirley’s reporting is part of the kind of watchdog journalism Republicans have been demanding to hold liberal-run cities and states accountable for the consequences of their policies. When reporters go into neighborhoods and record the testimony of people directly affected, the political talking points no longer matter as much as the visible human suffering. That clarity forces a reckoning about whether handwringing from officials is meeting the scale of the problem on the ground.
Critics argue that sanctuary-style policies and permissive enforcement on immigration have encouraged mass movement to places that are already stretched thin for housing and services. Supporters of open-door approaches cast these people as victims of circumstance, and there are certainly humanitarian concerns here. But the footage Shirley captured shows the combined failure of federal, state, and local systems to prepare and protect, which is a legitimate issue for voters concerned about borders, budgets, and basic public order.
Seeing families talk about daily survival on the street, rather than on a campaign stage, changes the conversation from abstract policy to actual consequence. Shirley’s interviews make it clear that migrants living in tents are not a statistic; they are people with stories, needs, and expectations that went unmet. The existence of this video creates a record voters and officials can use to judge whether current leaders are delivering results or simply offering excuses.
