By Judicial Watch ——Bio and Archives--May 5, 2020
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A State may provide that an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States is eligible for any State or local public benefit … only through the enactment of a State law … which affirmatively provides for such eligibility.The Judicial Watch lawsuit alleges that the California State Legislature has not enacted any law which affirmatively provides that unlawfully present aliens are eligible for the $75 million of cash public benefits announced by Newsom. Governor Newsom intends to fund his initiative with $16.5 million from the Rapid Response Program, which the Legislature created and funded in June 2019 as part of the Budget Act of 2019, and $63.3 million from a March 17, 2020 amendment to the Budget Act of 2019 that references his March 4, 2020 proclamation declaring a state of emergency. Judicial Watch explains to the court today in its application for a temporary restraining order that the governor derives no authority from these legislative actions to spend the money for his executive initiative and therefore should grant a TRO:
[N]either the proclamation nor the budget amendment makes an express or even an implied reference to authorizing direct cash benefits to unlawfully present aliens. Similarly, neither the Rapid Response Program nor the appropriation of monies for that program makes any reference, express or implied, to authorizing direct cash benefits to unlawfully present aliens. Indeed, the California State Legislature has not enacted any state law which affirmatively provides that unlawfully present aliens are eligible for the cash public benefits of $75 million.
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The enactment appropriating funds to the Rapid Response Program further confirms that the Legislature did not expressly authorize direct cash benefits to unlawfully present aliens or anyone else. *** This Court should preserve the status quo where those funds remain in the state’s treasury, grant a temporary restraining order, and issue an order directing the Governor and his Director of the Department of Social Services to show cause why a preliminary injunction should not be entered.“Judicial Watch’s taxpayer clients asked for a temporary restraining order because Governor Newsom plans to rush plainly illegal direct cash payments, using taxpayer dollars, to illegal aliens,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The governor has no legal authority on his own to spend state taxpayer money for cash payments to illegal aliens, and coronavirus doesn’t give him or any other politician a pass to violate the law.”
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Judicial Watch, Inc., a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law. Through its educational endeavors, Judicial Watch advocates high standards of ethics and morality in our nation’s public life and seeks to ensure that political and judicial officials do not abuse the powers entrusted to them by the American people. Judicial Watch fulfills its educational mission through litigation, investigations, and public outreach.