Governor Gavin Newsom has long been a vocal supporter of extending health care access to undocumented immigrants, describing the expansion of health insurance and other health care programs as “the California way” in his 2022 State of the State address. Medi-Cal has steadily expanded to undocumented people during Newsom’s administration, starting with children in 2016, to young adults in 2020, to people 50 and older in 2022, and all remaining adults this year.
On May 10, Newsom announced that California faces a $27.6 billion shortfall in the next fiscal year. Among the many cuts to public benefits proposed by the governor, In-Home Supportive Services is the only one that may see a group of people removed based on their immigration status.
“It’s very upsetting to see that in the first instance of financial trouble we’re looking at targeting undocumented people for budget cuts,” says Hagar Dickman, Senior Attorney at Justice in Aging, a national advocacy organization that uses litigation to combat senior poverty.