(Kenneth Schrupp, The Center Square) California is spending $278.4 million this year on its “Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants” program that provides state-funded payments largely to qualified elderly and disabled non-citizens who were rejected from the federal Supplemental Security Income program due to their immigration status, state records show.
At the same time, the state estimates it faces a $18 billion budget deficit for the coming 2026-2027 fiscal year.
“California is billions in the red and it is getting worse. So why are we providing cash benefits for people already outside the federal safety net while cutting Medi-Cal, mental health care, and disability services?” said California State Assembly Republican Caucus spokesman George Andrews in an email to The Center Square. “California cannot keep promising everything to everyone while gutting the programs working families actually depend on.”
The state projects the program will provide benefits to an estimated 18,920 individuals in the 2025-2026 fiscal year, or about $14,715 per recipient over the course of the year. Standard benefits for elderly or disabled individuals are $1,206.94 per month.
Typical program beneficiaries are legal immigrants who have either not been in the country long enough to qualify to receive SSI, or have exceeded the seven year maximum of SSI benefits to humanitarian immigrants. CAPI is also available to non-citizen victims of human trafficking, domestic violence or other serious crimes, and others, who have applied with the federal government for immigration relief, including some with final deportation orders.
According to the state’s CAPI handbook, individuals considered to be “Permanently Residing Under Color of Law” are also eligible for the program. PRUCOL includes individuals who have been issued an Order of Supervision by federal immigration authorities, which allows individuals who generally have final deportation orders to remain in the country under supervision. Supervision is granted for reasons ranging from humanitarian purposes to refusal of the home country to agree to accept the individual facing deportation.
According to ICE, there are 7.6 million individuals in the United States being overseen on its non-detained docket — a figure which includes those with Orders of Supervision.
The state-funded Legislative Analyst’s Office reports the state “solved” a $15 billion deficit in the 2025-2026 fiscal year through spending shifts and cuts, but faces a $18 billion “budget problem” in the coming 2026-27 fiscal year.
The LAO estimates the state’s “structural deficits” will rise to $35 billion per year starting in fiscal year 2027-2028 — the first year in office for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s successor. In May 2022, Newsom reported a $97.5 billion budget surplus.
Newsom’s office directed The Center Square’s inquiry to the California Department of Finance, which confirmed the allocation for CAPI for the current fiscal year and emphasized the program is for individuals with what the state calls legal status.
“A majority of the Legislature voted to approve a budget in June for the current fiscal year that provides that amount for that estimated caseload,” H.D. Palmer, DOF’s Deputy Director for External Affairs, said in an email to The Center Square. “These are individuals who have legal status.”
