California has spent more than $11 billion in tax dollars on benefits for illegal immigrants, according to a report by Christopher Rufo published in City Journal. The benefits described include free healthcare, food assistance, housing help, legal assistance, education, smartphones, and subsidized car insurance.
Rufo, researching the piece, visited four state offices in Southern California and found that each confirmed illegal immigrants are permitted to enroll in California’s public assistance programs. He describes the arrangement as a “shadow welfare system” built to move public money to noncitizens.
One of the offices he visited was in Glendale, where he spoke with a welfare officer about California’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants, known as CAPI. The program is a state-funded substitute for federal Supplemental Security Income and provides monthly cash payments to low-income noncitizens who are elderly or disabled.
“Local officials were remarkably transparent. In Glendale, we spoke to a welfare officer about California’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI), a state-funded alternative to Supplemental Security Income that provides monthly cash assistance to low-income noncitizens who are elderly or disabled,” Rufo wrote.
Beyond CAPI, illegal immigrants in California can qualify for public health insurance and various tax credits, according to the report. Their children can qualify for additional programs, including CalWORKs and Section 8 rental subsidies. Rufo calculates that a family of five — two illegal-immigrant parents, two U.S.-born children, and one illegal-immigrant grandparent — can collectively receive public services worth more than $100,000 per year.
“California, illegal immigrants can qualify for CAPI, public health insurance, and various tax credits. Their children qualify for others, including CalWORKs and, as in other states, Section 8 rental subsidies. All told, a family of five in California with two illegal-alien parents, two U.S.-born children, and one illegal-alien grandparent can receive public services worth more than $100,000 per year,” Rufo wrote.
The report also states that illegal immigrants are eligible for state-subsidized car insurance regardless of immigration status, allowing them to drive legally without facing arrest for lack of coverage.
According to Rufo, state lawmakers have structured smaller, locally administered programs to funnel state money toward noncitizens while sidestepping rules that would otherwise bar the use of tax dollars for that purpose. California has also designated illegal immigrants as “permanently residing under color of law,” a classification the report says is used to extend benefits despite restrictions under federal law. Officials have also cited protecting children as justification for extending benefits, and the report notes that few of the relevant programs carry built-in citizenship requirements.
The report notes that California is not alone in using such workarounds — Illinois and New York are cited as having similar arrangements — but says California’s spending on the practice is especially large.
