California Shadow Welfare for Noncitizens

California has built parallel, state‑funded program channels (e.g., CAPI, state‑paid Medi‑Cal wraparounds, tax‑credit outreach) that give undocumented immigrants and their U.S.‑born children wide access to cash, health care, housing assistance, and other benefits. The state now pays billions (the article claims at least $11 billion last year and about $10 billion for Medi‑Cal expansions) by design — using state buckets and legal categories to avoid federal restrictions. — If other states emulate or tolerate such parallel funding, it reshapes fiscal burdens, political debates over immigration, and the leverage of federal funding rules across the U.S.