FBI agents searched the homes of political consultant Jesus Cardenas and union official Kelvin Barrios early Thursday morning, seizing electronic devices after a federal search warrant was issued the day before. No federal charges have been filed in connection with the searches, and neither the FBI nor the U.S. Attorney's office has made any public statement about them.
The raids were first reported by La Prensa, which said sources told the outlet that agents seized electronic devices, including phones and computers, from both homes. The report was later confirmed by the San Diego Union-Tribune, whose reporting on the broader story is cited throughout this account. In the fallout, the San Diego Democratic Party said its executive board placed Barrios on administrative leave, and LiUNA Local 89 confirmed to La Prensa that he was no longer employed there.
Who Are Cardenas and Barrios
Cardenas is a political consultant who, according to the Union-Tribune's reporting, later ran Stephen Whitburn's successful San Diego City Council campaign in 2020. His sister, Andrea Cardenas, was elected to the Chula Vista City Council that year. Barrios is a former San Diego City Council candidate who served as policy and community engagement director at Laborers' International Union of North America Local 89, and had previously worked for former San Diego councilmember Georgette Gomez. As part of his union job, Barrios coordinated with political candidates and their handlers, including Cardenas, the Union-Tribune reported.
Both men carry records of prior legal trouble that predate the FBI searches. Cardenas and his sister, former Chula Vista councilmember Andrea Cardenas, were charged in 2023 with multiple felonies involving roughly $176,000 in federal COVID-19 relief loans, according to the Union-Tribune. Accounts of the resulting plea differ: La Prensa reported that the siblings pleaded guilty to two felonies each in 2024, while the Union-Tribune reported they pleaded guilty to a single felony charge each.
Prior Sentences and Restitution
Jesus Cardenas was sentenced to 45 days in a work-furlough program, 135 days in home detention and two years of formal probation, according to NBC 7 San Diego, which reported he was sentenced on March 27, 2024. Andrea Cardenas was sentenced on Aug. 28, 2024, to two years of probation and 100 hours of community service, per KPBS. She had resigned from the Chula Vista City Council weeks before the 2024 primary ballot.
Reports also diverge on how much the siblings were ordered to repay California's Employment Development Department. KPBS reported the repayment figure at $28,908, while a news release from the San Diego County District Attorney's Office put it at $26,700. That same release noted the DA's investigation into Cardenas resulted in 27 search warrants to examine financial and email accounts.
In 2020, Barrios suspended a council campaign after a criminal investigation concerning contributions.
Union's Political Spending Under Scrutiny
LiUNA Local 89, which a 2020 Union-Tribune report described as having 3,100 members in San Diego County, has directed hundreds of thousands of dollars to local campaigns in recent years. The union's PAC fund contributed $1.3 million to other PACs and committees that then spent on its behalf, according to a KPBS report on county political spending. Among those transfers, the union gave $600,000 to the San Diego Labor Coalition PAC, which supported candidates Gerardo Ramirez and Francisco Tamayo.
That spending pattern extends back years. In 2020, Local 89 gave $20,000 to National City city clerk candidate Javier Alvarado. La Prensa also reported that the union spent hundreds of thousands of dollars helping elect members to the San Diego County Democratic Party's Central Committee in 2024.
As of La Prensa's report, no federal charges had been filed against either Cardenas or Barrios, and the U.S. Attorney's office had not commented. The Union-Tribune reported that the Department of Justice's San Diego office declined to discuss the search warrants or any potential investigations, and a spokesperson told the paper the agency could not comment on whether investigations existed. What prompted the searches, and whether they will lead to any further action, remains unknown.
