Rep. Eric Swalwell, the California Democrat now running for governor, faces formal complaints alleging he and his wife violated federal immigration and employment law by paying a Brazilian live-in nanny with campaign money during a period when she lacked legal work authorization. The accusations, filed with the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security, add a new layer of legal exposure to a gubernatorial bid already reeling from separate misconduct allegations.
The New York Post reported that the Department of Labor complaint, filed Tuesday, accuses Eric and Brittany Swalwell of lying to federal authorities to keep babysitter Amanda Barbosa employed in the United States after her temporary work authorization was set to expire in 2022. A second complaint, dated Feb. 16 and filed with DHS in February, alleges the congressman paid Barbosa under the table with campaign funds for roughly two years while she held no valid work authorization.
Swalwell has not responded to the Post's request for comment on the nanny allegations. In a broader statement about the troubles engulfing his campaign, he called the claims "absolutely false" and vowed to "fight them with everything I have." No findings of wrongdoing have been issued by any agency.
Barbosa, now 33, came to the United States from Rio de Janeiro in January 2021 on an au pair visa. Swalwell first hired her in fall 2021 to look after his three children. Federal Election Commission data reviewed by the Post show she received $3,914 in campaign funds that year.
In 2022, her payments jumped to $46,930. That same year, an additional $52,262 in campaign expenses labeled "childcare" were written off to Swalwell himself. The FEC had issued a 2022 advisory opinion giving Swalwell the green light to use campaign contributions for overnight childcare if the expenses resulted from travel for campaign events.
But the complaints paint a different picture of what happened next. With Barbosa's au pair visa coming to an end in December 2022, Swalwell began sponsoring her for a green card through a permanent labor certification application reviewed by the Post. The Department of Labor told the Post that certification was approved in 2024.
The gap between late 2022 and the 2024 approval is where the accusations land hardest. The DHS complaint states that during this window, Barbosa had no known lawful work authorization, yet continued performing childcare duties for the family.
The DHS complaint points to social media as evidence. It states that Barbosa "appears in numerous social media photos with the Swalwell family throughout 2023 and 2024, indicating continued close association and ongoing childcare responsibilities despite the absence of known lawful work authorization." Photos from Barbosa's since-deleted Facebook account reportedly showed her at the annual White House picnic in both 2023 and 2024, holding the Swalwells' youngest child, then two years old. Additional images showed her taking the children trick-or-treating on Halloween in 2024.
Her LinkedIn page, screenshots of which were included in the complaints, listed her as having worked as a "private childcare provider continuously from 2021 to present." As Fox News reported, the complaint alleges that while the green-card process played out, Barbosa enrolled at a community college, and under student visa rules, she was not permitted to work off campus.
The Labor Department complaint, filed by California filmmaker and activist Joel Gilbert, alleges the Swalwells lied to federal authorities "to keep Amanda Barbosa working for them." Gilbert also filed the FEC complaint in February. He told the Post the situation amounted to "a brazen disregard for the law," adding: "He's harboring and employing an illegal."
Swalwell is no stranger to controversy. His ties to a suspected Chinese intelligence operative have drawn scrutiny for years and prompted calls for greater transparency about the nature of that relationship.
The nanny allegations arrive at a moment when Swalwell's gubernatorial campaign can least afford them. The Post reported that his campaign "unraveled Friday" after four women came forward with sexual assault and misconduct allegations, a separate set of accusations that have already triggered an endorsement collapse.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly urged Swalwell to exit the governor's race as those allegations mounted, a sign of how quickly his standing has deteriorated among his own party's leadership.
Online betting odds have shifted toward billionaire progressive Tom Steyer in California's governor's race. The open primary is set for June 2. Breitbart noted the complaints accuse both Swalwell and his wife of violating immigration and employment laws, and described the campaign childcare expenses as a potential workaround to conceal unauthorized employment.
The FEC investigation into Swalwell's campaign spending is already underway. The agency is examining whether more than $200,000 in campaign funds spent on personal babysitting violated federal election law. The FEC was not immediately available for comment, and there have been no findings of wrongdoing.
Swalwell has also faced questions about his California residency qualifications for the governor's race, yet another front in a widening set of legal and political challenges.
The FEC records, taken together, tell a story of escalating campaign-funded payments to a single childcare provider. In 2021, Barbosa received $3,914. In 2022, that figure ballooned to $46,930, plus the $52,262 in childcare expenses reimbursed directly to Swalwell. By 2025, Barbosa was back on the books and received $38,905 in campaign funds.
The combined household income for the Swalwells exceeded $400,000, raising the question of why campaign donors were footing the bill for live-in childcare in the first place. The 2022 FEC opinion permitted campaign-funded childcare tied to campaign travel. Whether the payments in question met that standard is now a matter for investigators.
Meanwhile, Barbosa could not be reached for comment. Her Facebook account has been deleted. Her LinkedIn, as of the complaint filings, still listed continuous employment as a private childcare provider dating back to 2021.
Swalwell's record of demanding transparency from others, while resisting disclosure of records tied to his own conduct, makes the current silence all the more conspicuous.
Several facts remain unresolved. No specific statutes have been publicly cited in either complaint. The exact scope of the FEC investigation has not been disclosed. And Swalwell has offered no detailed rebuttal to the immigration and employment allegations, only a blanket denial.
Gilbert, the complainant, is a filmmaker and activist, not a prosecutor. But the agencies receiving his filings, DHS and the Department of Labor, have enforcement authority. Whether they act on the complaints will determine if this stays a political headache or becomes a legal one.
A congressman who built his brand lecturing others about the rule of law now faces formal accusations that he broke it, quietly, in his own home, with his donors' money.
