Gov. Gavin Newsom recently announced that California is allocating $35 million to support illegal immigrants, even as the Golden State hemorrhages an estimated $1 trillion amid concerns over a proposed billionaire tax that has the ultra-wealthy fleeing the state. Newsom’s administration is also projecting a budget deficit of nearly $3 billion, although other estimates are far higher, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), the California legislature’s nonpartisan fiscal and policy advisor. As California faces a spiraling financial crisis, Newsom’s multi-million-dollar handout for illegal immigrants seems ill-advised.
Illegal Immigrants First
The $35 million will help provide illegal immigrant families with legal support, food assistance, and “other essential resources.” It will not be used for cash payments, the governor’s office noted in a press release, but the investment “will allow nonprofits to provide in-kind support for basic needs.”
Newsom’s office said the funds are part of California’s commitment “to protect immigrant families” amid President Donald Trump’s administration-wide crackdown on illegal immigration.
“While the federal government targets hardworking families, California stands with them – uniting partners and funding local communities to help support their neighbors. The urgent need grows as the Trump Administration accelerates mass detention, tramples due process, and funds authoritarian enforcement with over $170 billion,” Newsom said in a statement. “As the Trump Administration chooses cruelty and chaos, California chooses community.”
A quote by Adam Smith comes to mind: "Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.” The Trump administration is targeting criminals for deportation. Newsom appears determined to keep those individuals in his state, even if it means using taxpayer dollars to do so.
Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio of San Diego called the investment “absurd.”
“If you were audited by the IRS and found to owe money and back taxes, as a citizen, you couldn’t say, ‘Well, I want a free lawyer to fight the federal government,” DeMaio said to CalMatters, a self-described nonprofit and nonpartisan news guide.
Flee or Foot the Bill
Newsom’s devotion to illegal immigrants comes at the expense of Californians who are saddled with some of the highest – and rising - taxes in the nation. Just look at the Golden State’s proposed wealth tax. In December, California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber recommended a “one-time” 5% tax on assets valued over $1 billion belonging to individuals and trusts.
"We had $2T of billionaire wealth just a few weeks ago. Now, 50% of that wealth has left - taking their income tax revenue, sales tax revenue, real estate tax revenue and all their staffs (and their salaries and income taxes) with them," Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya wrote on X.
Adding insult to injury, Newsom’s California also released 4,561 criminal illegals from jails since Trump was sworn in as president last year. Was Mr. Newsom elected to serve Californians or illegal immigrants?
Californians are left with a choice: pay excessively high taxes for the benefit of illegal immigrants rather than their countrymen, or relocate to a state with a lower tax burden and more America-first policies.
One look at the data shows the choice isn’t that difficult after all: Americans living in California are fleeing the state in droves. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, the state “now experiences net losses among higher-income households as well as middle- and lower-income households.” The number of higher-income households leaving the Golden State jumped from less than 150,000 in 2019 to roughly 220,000 by 2021 – although the number moving out declined slightly between 2021 and 2024.
“The picture painted by these trends illustrates the frustrations and economic challenges faced by many Californians,” the institute explained. “The state’s high cost of living, driven primarily by comparatively high housing costs, remains an ongoing public policy challenge—one that needs resolution if the state is to be a place of opportunity for all of its residents.”
