California: Favorite Destination for Illegal Aliens Plans Even More Benefits
Many attractive destinations exist for illegal aliens – Massachusetts, Maryland, Oregon, and others. California, however, dwarfs them all with its enormous honeypot of benefits and never-ending commitment to extend even more. Not surprisingly, illegal aliens continue streaming in as if lured by the iconic lyrics to the Beverly Hills theme song, “California is the place you ought to be.”
And why not?
- Despite its $31.5 billion budget deficit, the state is happy to spend $30.9 billion annually subsidizing illegal alien education, criminal justice, health care, and other state benefits and administrative services. This means every California native-born household chips in an average of $2,340 each year to help.
- Statewide, the California Values Act prevents law enforcement agencies from notifying federal authorities when illegal aliens are released from jail, which means there is little chance of being deported even for criminal aliens.
- Employment opportunities abound in California’s agricultural Central Valley where work authorization seems irrelevant given that 60 percent of workers don’t have any.
- Not forgetting that illegal aliens need to get to and from their jobs, the state makes it convenient by offering them driver’s licenses.
- In-state tuition for illegal aliens is widely available, compliments of California’s Dream Act. And that taxpayer subsidized tuition can be put to use acquiring advanced training; California allows illegal aliens to be licensed in almost every profession, including the legal profession which the California Supreme Court made clear in 2014.
- Finally, thanks to a sweeping bill passed last year, California will now be the first state in America to offer subsidized health care to low-income residents regardless of immigration status. Set to take effect in 2024, the program is estimated to cost $2.7 billion annually.
Given the smorgasbord of benefits, California’s state motto “Eureka” (I have found it!) aptly applies to illegal aliens desiring access to everything with no questions asked. Consequently, 3.2 million illegal aliens — 21% of all illegal aliens in America — have chosen California as their preferred domicile.
But even this doesn’t seem quite generous enough for the Golden State. California is now proposing legislation that would grant 20 weeks of unemployment benefits — $300 weekly — to illegal aliens, which will impose an annual state cost of $325 million. SB 227, euphemistically labeled the “Safety Net for All Workers Act,” has already passed the California Senate Appropriations Committee.
Fair play would dictate that providing unemployment benefits to someone for a job they weren’t entitled to in the first place – and who likely presented bogus identification during the hiring process – would violate fair play. More importantly, 8 U.S. Code § 1324a — “Unlawful employment of aliens” – which strictly prohibits the hiring of illegal aliens, remains a federal statue. But neither fair play, complying with the law, nor lessening the tax burdens on its legal residents, are of much interest to California lawmakers.
It’s no wonder then that millions of middle-class residents are leaving California as an updated soundtrack plays in the background: “California is the place you ought to flee.”