Free education… financial aid… student loans… low-cost auto insurance… free health care… free legal aid… California is the Golden State once again, but not for legal residents and citizens. California’s more than three million illegal aliens are enjoying many benefits the state’s legal residents and taxpayers do not. And it comes at a very heavy financial burden — legal residents are not just paying for their own health care, rent, transportation, food and education, they are paying for illegal aliens’ as well.
Sen. Ricardo Lara
According to the Federation for Immigration Reform, the annual expenditure of California state and local tax dollars on services for the illegal alien population is $25.3 billion. That total amounts to a yearly burden of about $2,370 for a household headed by a U.S. citizen.
California lawmakers are harming taxpayers and millions of impoverished, economically depressed, legal California residents — and especially minority communities of black and Hispanic citizens. This is what’s known as “willful ignorance:” The practice or act of intentional and blatant avoidance, disregard or disagreement with facts, empirical evidence and well-founded arguements because they oppose or contradict your own existing personal beliefs.
Coordinating Benefits for Illegal Immigrants – ‘Health Act for All’
Senate Bill 4 by State Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Los Angeles, is proposing health coverage specifically for illegal aliens – not “all” as the bill title states.
Lara’s justification for SB 4 — “the Health Act for All” — is that the federal Affordable Care Act specifically excludes people living in the country illegally. “Access to health care is a human rights issue and until everyone is included, our work is unfinished,” said Lara.
Text from Lara’s bill explains in plain English: “This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature all Californians, regardless of immigration status, have access to affordable health coverage and care.
In a carefully coordinated effort, Lara reintroduced SB 4 almost immediately following President Barack Obama’s November 20, 2014 Executive Order providing amnesty to approximately 5 million illegal immigrants.
President Obama went around Congress to unilaterally change the U.S. Immigration laws. And that’s a no-no. However, a U.S. District Court Judge in Texas blocked the Obama administration of the amnesty Executive Order, as 26 states have lawsuits pending.
But wait! There’s more!
Lara has a second illegal immigration bill, which would create the California Office for New Americans. Lara claims this new agency is for the purpose of helping illegal aliens integrate into the state. Lara said he wants to create the California Office of New Americans to “provide our undocumented population with resources, information, and fraud prevention assistance, helping them better integrate into the economic, social and political fabric of our state.”
It wasn’t that long ago people immigrated to California because it was the land of opportunity, not the land of welfare queens and free cheese. Immigrants didn’t need Ricardo Lara and his handouts.
Lara is not only inviting more illegal aliens to California, he is doing it by making it even easier for illegal aliens to have access to a free education, free legal services, free health care, and welfare benefits which covers food, rent, and transportation. Free cheese never looked so good.
In 12 states, including California, as well as the District of Columbia, the welfare package is more generous than a $15-an-hour job,” the CATO Institute reported in a white paper in 2013. “The current welfare system provides such a high level of benefits that it acts as a disincentive for work.”
Most everyone agrees with providing a safety net, but incentivizing people not to work, and making welfare life comfortable enough they don’t have to work, is the proverbial frog in a pot of boiling water.
But Wait! There’s More!
In 2013 Brown signed AB 60 by Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Salinas, allowing illegal aliens to obtain state drivers licenses.
There is also now access to a special low-cost auto insurance program to assist illegal aliens who apply for the new California driver’s license.
In 2011, Brown signed the California Dream Act by Assemblyman John Perez, D-Los Angeles, allowing illegal aliens in California colleges and universities access to state financial aid programs.
Last year Gov. Jerry Brown signed three more bills benefitting illegal aliens, all by Sen. Lara:
- The State Dream Loan Program, also by Sen. Lara, authorizing $9.2 million for state universities to loan money to illegal alien students;
- SB 1159, also by Sen. Lara, to allow illegal aliens to poly for professional licenses — law licenses, medical licenses, and the like;
- Also authored by Sen. Lara, Gov. Brown signed SB 873 allocating $3 million to certain non-profit organizations to provide legal representation to illegal alien minors in deportation cases.
Brown also signed a bill to prohibit local law-enforcement officials from detaining immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally longer than necessary to resolve their cases for minor crimes so that federal immigration authorities can take custody of them.
Are you seeing a pattern?
“Our state pushed the envelope this year,” said Joseph Villela, of the taxpayer funded Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, known as CHIRLA. “And I hope it will continue to push the envelope next year.” According to the Washington Free Beacon, “CHIRLA was awarded $250,000 in federal funds this year by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) Citizenship and Integration Grant Program, which sponsors organizations that assist permanent residents applying for citizenship. The overt political activity of the group raises questions about its support from taxpayers.”
The depraved depth of rent-seekers is evident in the list of signatories to Lara’s SB 4:
Alliance for Boys and Men of Color, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-LA, ASPIRE, California Coverage & Health Initiatives, California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC), California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance (CIYJA), California Labor Federation, California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, California Pan-Ethnic Health Network (CPEHN), California Partnership California Partnership (CAP), California Primary Care Association, California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, Children Now, Children’s Defense Fund-California, Clinica Monsenor Oscar A. Romero, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), Educators for Fair Consideration, Fresno Barrios Unidos, Fresno Immigrant Youth in Action, Health Access California, Latino Coalition for a Healthy California (LCHC), National Immigration Law Center, Physicians for a National Health Program-California, PICO California, PolicyLink, Sacramento Covered, SEIU California, The Children’s Partnership, The Greenlining Institute, Western Center on Law & Poverty, Young Invincibles.