The California Legislature is proposing a program to provide unemployment benefits to illegal immigrants coming to and residing in the state.
Senate Bill 277 by State Senator Maria Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles) proposes income assistance to unemployed “excluded workers” who are not eligible for regular state or federal unemployment insurance benefits due to their immigration status.
Perhaps even more horrifying, this program would be administered by the Employment Development Department and implemented upon appropriation by the Legislature of sufficient funds to carry it out.
Currently, the state’s employers pay for unemployment insurance.
This is the same EDD the massive fraud was perpetrated against during the pandemic. “The current estimate is that the EDD lost about $40 billion to illegitimate claimants, including prisoners (and not just from California prisons), garden variety local scammers, and international fraud rings, all of whom simply walked right into the department’s completely unprotected system,” the Globe reported.
“While the EDD has claimed it did the best it could, it should be noted that the EDD—even though it could have purchased basic fraud protection software that would even work with its antiquated IT systems for about $5 million—had no way to prove if an applicant was who they said they were until the end of 2020, months after the pandemic began.”
The Senate Committee on Labor bill analysis explains that SB 277 Prohibits the EDD, in administering the program, from taking any of the following actions:
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- Requesting, orally or in writing, an individual’s nationality, place of birth, or eligibility or ineligibility for a social security number.
- Compelling or requesting an individual to admit in writing whether they have proof of lawful presence in the United States.
- Contacting an individual’s current, former, or prospective employer for any purpose, including to verify employment status. However, does not prohibit the department from using other means to verify past employment.
- Recording an individual’s immigration or citizenship status.
The bill also authorizes an applicant to self-attest to being eligible for the program and requires them to submit documentation with a value equal to at least four points to establish proof of work history. (emphasis ours)
Did lawmakers learn nothing from the rampant fraud of the EDD during COVID? “Self-attest to being eligible for the program?
“Every day, undocumented immigrants contribute to California’s economic prosperity in agriculture, construction, clothing and other industries” said Senator Maria Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles). “California is set to be the world’s fourth-largest economy in large part thanks to immigrant labor, yet immigrants continue to be shut out from California’s economic success due to unjust exclusions from the safety net. That is why I am authoring SB 227, the Safety Net for All Workers Act. California must include a life-saving unemployment benefits program for these workers.”
Governor Gavin Newsom recently announced that the state’s budget deficit has ballooned by $9 billion, going from the initial January estimate of $22.5 billon to $31.5 billion, leading to more major cuts being implemented next fiscal year.
Approximately half of California’s income comes from the top 1% of earners as well as businesses in the state.
The perfect storm for recession may be upon us with high inflation, high taxes, high energy costs, high food costs, a sizable budget deficit, and tens of thousands of big tech layoffs, which is the other issue California lawmakers and governor need to address, the Globe reported. And now taxpayers will be expected to financially support more illegal immigrants into the state with the expiration of Title 42.
Senator Durazo never acknowledges where the funding will come from – and it’s not from the Appropriations Committee.
“Title 42, a Trump administration era policy suspended rights to seek asylum, expired Thursday evening, bringing an influx of migrants to the border,” Fox News reported. “A record 83,000 migrants crossed the border last week in anticipation of the policy’s expiration, but U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said border agents saw a 50% drop in the number of border crossers over the weekend.”
“Just south of San Diego, roughly 15,000 migrants had gathered in Tijuana last week, filling hotels and shelters or sleeping outside in a makeshift camp while waiting for Title 42 to expire in the hopes of making it into the Golden State, The New York Times reported.”
The state is bleeding businesses and losing hundreds of thousands of residents to other states. The California exodus to other states is even worse than we realized; the state’s population dropped by more than 500,000 people between April 2020 and July 2022, with the number of residents leaving surpassing those moving in by nearly 700,000, the Globe reported in February – taking $29.1 billion with them to other states.
And California Democrats are proposing to pay illegal immigrants unemployment.
Last year Gov. Newsom vetoed AB 2847, a similar bill also proposing providing unemployment benefits to illegal aliens, saying, “this bill needs further work to address the operational issues and fiscal concerns, including a dedicated funding source for benefits.” Perhaps his veto pen will work on SB 277 given his concerns, as well as benefits already provided to illegal immigrants. According to the governor, last year, “California made historic investments to ensure more undocumented Californians have access to health care, food assistance, and to provide inflation relief regardless of immigration status.”
