While California is already notorious for having a massive welfare state — accompanied by massive amounts of welfare fraud — a new report revealed the extent to which California handouts bankroll illegal aliens.
The report from City Journal fellow Christopher Rufo, joined by Kenneth Schrupp and Austen Hufford, even described the programs as a “shadow welfare system.”
Among other benefits, foreigners can receive “health care, rental assistance, college grants, tax credits, low-cost car insurance, and even smartphones on the taxpayers’ dime,” the report said.
The team from the City Journal visited four welfare offices in California — where employees admitted that illegal aliens can receive the benefits, or accept benefits on behalf of their children.
That spending amounted to $11 billion of subsidies for illegal aliens in the previous fiscal year alone.
“If you were born here and the child was born here, you get money for two,” a welfare officer in Los Angeles said of CalWORKS, which provides short-term cash assistance to families.
EXCLUSIVE: California has created a shadow welfare system for illegal aliens. Free housing, cash, healthcare, food, phones, college tuition, even car insurance—costing taxpayers more than $10 billion per year.
We went inside the system and exposed it all. pic.twitter.com/oJh0mpstzN
— Christopher Rufo (@christopherrufo) September 23, 2026