California’s Illegal Immigration Problem

{snip}

Throughout the 2024 presidential campaign, Democrats claimed that illegal immigrants did not receive free healthcare from taxpayers. That was false. Six states, including California, were using state and federal tax dollars to provide free healthcare to illegal immigrants in 2024, and Gov. Tim Walz’s Minnesota began providing free healthcare to illegal immigrants in 2025.

{snip} California has spent tax dollars on free healthcare for illegal immigrant children since 2016, but in 2024 expanded the benefit to all illegal immigrants up to age 49. Democrats estimated this expansion would cost $3 billion a year, but far more illegal immigrants signed up for the free healthcare than Democrats forecast, and the cost of the program quickly ballooned to more than $10 billion.

Faced with a multibillion-dollar budget deficit, Gov. Gavin Newsom halted new enrollments for illegal immigrants over the age of 19 in 2026, added a $30 premium for enrollees, and slashed reimbursements to providers. These cuts held spending on the program at current levels but came nowhere close to reducing spending to the original estimates.

Asked during last week’s gubernatorial debate whether they would restore funding for illegal immigrant healthcare cut by Newsom, every Democrat that answered the question said yes. Asked how they planned to pay for the increased spending, none had any good answers other than failed ideas of the past, such as moving the entire state, including legal residents, to a single-payer system — that is, socialized healthcare.

{snip}