The City Journal, a public policy magazine published by the right-leaning Manhattan Institute, recently investigated the striking array of entitlements available to illegal alien families in California. What they uncovered was staggering.
Perhaps their most disturbing discovery was that an illegal alien couple with two U.S.-born children and one illegal alien grandparent is eligible to receive benefits worth up to $100,000 in a single calendar year.
The authors, Christopher F. Rufo, Kenneth Schrupp, and Austen Hufford, call this extensive safety net California’s “Shadow Welfare System.” It includes “health care, rental assistance, college grants, tax credits, low-cost car insurance, and even smartphones.” And they’ve estimated the annual cost to California taxpayers to be nearly $11 billion.
It’s no mystery why more than 25% of California residents are foreign-born. With perks like these, the state is a magnet for illegal immigrants.
EXCLUSIVE: California has created a shadow welfare system for illegal aliens. Free housing, cash, healthcare, food, phones, college tuition, even car insurance—costing taxpayers more than $10 billion per year.
We went inside the system and exposed it all. pic.twitter.com/oJh0mpstzN
— Christopher Rufo (@christopherrufo) September 23, 2026
The authors reported [Emphasis added]:
We visited four public-services offices in Southern California, each of which admitted that illegal aliens can enroll in public-welfare programs or receive benefits on their children’s behalf.
…
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.
“If [you are] a citizen, you cannot get CAPI,” he said. “I don’t care about legal or not. Not being [a] citizen [is the key].”
In Los Angeles, we heard more of the same. We asked another welfare officer about the benefits available to illegal immigrants and their children. While some state programs are closed to illegals, we learned, they are open to those aliens’ U.S.-born children.
Moreover, state leaders are very proud of their largesse to illegal residents. The authors reported that Gov. Gavin Newsom recently boasted about “his ‘controversial’ decision to extend Medi-Cal coverage to illegal immigrants.”
His wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, “encouraged people to sign up for the California Earned Income Tax Credit, a program whose promotional materials assure applicants that ‘no Social Security number’ is ‘no problem.’”
So, how are state leaders able to provide such comprehensive assistance to illegals? Well, because they have found ways to dodge restrictions and, as with Medicaid, figured out how to circumvent federal laws.
An X user points out the obvious in the post below:
@christopherrufo Crazy that we DO have free healthcare except it’s for illegal immigrants only and not you, the American citizen who pays for their healthcare on top of yours.
— Maddie Rowley (@Maddie_Rowley_) September 23, 2026
California’s legislature never seems to pass up an opportunity to expand assistance to illegal immigrants, placing an ever greater burden on taxpayers.
If ever there were a textbook example of income redistribution, this is it: The state takes money from those who earn it and uses it to subsidize people who enter the country knowing they have no means of supporting themselves. These individuals depend on the state for every need. Lawmakers may call it compassion, but their generosity comes at someone else’s expense.
Those who invoke America’s history as a nation of immigrants often overlook the self-reliance that defined the experiences of so many who came before them. Our ancestors took whatever work they could find to put food on the table and a roof over their heads. They saved money to buy homes, and some used their ingenuity to start businesses. Most importantly, they were proud to call themselves Americans.
One party rule in California has ruined the state. Yet Newsom seems eager to make his record as governor the foundation of his 2028 presidential campaign. Good luck, Gavin.
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