Judicial Watch Files for Temporary Restraining Order Enjoining Governor Newsom’s Initiative to Provide $75 Million in Cash Benefits to Illegal Aliens

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it has filed an application for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against California Governor Gavin Newsom and his Director of the California Department of Social Services Kim Johnson to restrain them from spending $79.8 million dollars of taxpayers’ money to provide direct cash benefits to unlawfully present aliens (Crest et al. v. Newsom et al. (No. 20STCV16321)). Judicial Watch attorneys are asking the California Superior Court to hold a hearing on the TRO on May 5. Judicial Watch argues in its TRO application that the court should preserve the status quo by restraining the State’s public officials from spending any taxpayer money on his executive initiative, known as the “Disaster Relief Fund” or the “Disaster Relief Assistance for Immigrants Project (DRAIP),” and “prevent this manifest abuse of power before it’s too late to do so.”