Good news, illegal immigrants! You're gonna get paid for breaking the law.
California will give cash payments to illegal immigrants, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday, using a mix of taxpayer money and charitable contributions to give 150,000 adults $500 each during the coronavirus outbreak.
California has an estimated 2 million illegal immigrants. They are not eligible for the $2.2 trillion stimulus package approved by Congress last month, which gives cash payments to most Americans plus boosts unemployment benefits by $600 per week.
“We feel a deep sense of gratitude for people that are in fear of deportations that are still addressing essential needs of tens of millions of Californians,” said Newsom, who noted 10% of the state’s workforce are immigrants living in the country illegally who paid more than $2.5 billion in state and local taxes last year.
Taxpayers are kicking in $75 million for the money, while a group of charities has committed to raise another $50 million for a total of $125 million. A group of charities has already donated $5.5 million for the fund, including the Emerson Collective, Blue Shield of California Foundation, the California Endowment, the James Irvine Foundation, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and an anonymous donor.
Newsom said the money will not be distributed based on income. “Their personal information will not be required to get those support,” he said.
Members of the Mexican National Guard and officers of the Migration Institute force Central American migrant - heading in a caravan to the US - to board a bus in Ciudad Hidalgo, Chiapas State, Mexico, on January 23, 2020. - Hundreds of Central American migrants surged into Mexico Thursday, wading unopposed across a river on the Guatemalan border where Mexican troops had used tear gas earlier in the week to keep them back, AFP journalists at the scene reported. (Photo by ALFREDO ESTRELLA / AFP) (Photo by ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP via Getty Images)