These Californians don’t get stimulus checks — why advocates want Newsom to do more for them
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Gov. Gavin Newsom last week unveiled a budget proposal that if passed would dole out billions of dollars in aid to taxpayers affected by the coronavirus pandemic, sometimes in the form of direct cash payments.
Anti-poverty advocates are calling that great news for the working poor, but some are asking him to steer more money directly to undocumented Californians who don’t qualify for federal financial assistance.
Those households, they say, were largely neglected by the two rounds of federal stimulus payments Congress sent to taxpayers over the past year.
Christopher Sanchez, a policy advocate at the Western Center on Law & Poverty, said the COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated inequities for California’s undocumented communities, many whom live paycheck-to-paycheck and lost jobs at unequal rates during the pandemic-induced recession.
“The governor’s proposal is absolutely a great step in the right direction for undocumented families,” Sanchez said. “However, we know that there are going to be individuals who are left out.”
Advocates for undocumented Californians want two big changes from Newsom: More cash to noncitizen households and an expansion of healthcare coverage to undocumented seniors.
Providing more financial assistance in the state budget to Californians with Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN), used commonly by undocumented taxpayers, could help people who missed out on federal aid, according to a report from the Legislative Analyst’s Office.
Newsom’s budget offers some help to them. They’d be eligible for a California stimulus Newsom wants to provide to taxpayers who qualify for the California Earned Income Tax Credit. That benefit is available to households earning less than $30,000. Newsom’s proposal would give those families $600.
“As job losses have fallen disproportionately on low-wage workers,” according to the report. “the Legislature could consider more narrowly targeting the governor’s proposal to focus assistance on ITIN taxpayers.”
The Legislative Analyst’s Office in its report suggested providing $1,800 per adult for ITIN filers earning below $75,000 would have a similar cost to the stimulus for low-income households outlined Newsom’s budget proposal.
Heads of households without Social Security Numbers were widely left out of the federal government’s coronavirus stimulus package approved by Congress last year, including those who are parents to U.S.-born citizens. An analysis by the California Budget & Policy Center found that 9 in 10 undocumented Californians who are parents live with children who are U.S. citizens.
About 1 in 3 undocumented California workers were employed in industries, like food service, child care, janitorial services or landscaping, that faced closures induced by the pandemic, according to the budget center.
“State leaders should prioritize supporting this essential group of Californians who are at severe risk of financial and health hardship but blocked from COVID-19 public relief efforts,” the policy center said.
Many immigrant advocates, including Los Angeles Democratic Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, expressed frustration when Newsom’s budget proposal released last week did not include a Medi-Cal expansion for undocumented seniors, ages 65 and over, during a pandemic that has steamrolled the state’s Latino communities. Sanchez said many undocumented workers have had to choose between exposing themselves to the virus or putting food on the table.
Expanding Medi-Cal for undocumented seniors, finding solutions to eliminate back rent accumulated during the pandemic and establishing a program to provide emergency food assistance, according to Sanchez, are “crucial” issues for state lawmakers to focus on to help immigrant families.
The Medi-Cal expansion for undocumented seniors, originally included in Newsom’s January 2019 budget proposal before it was removed due to the state facing an anticipated budget deficit, would cost approximately $80.5 million.
Newsom has advocated for helping undocumented households in the pandemic. Last year, the state allocated $75 million in cash assistance to undocumented Californians. The relief provided $500 per individual, with a maximum of $1,000 per household, and helped about 150,000 individuals — a fraction of the estimated 2 to 3 million undocumented immigrants living in the state.
“We have to ensure that we reach more undocumented Californians and that we have a greater investment into this community that we’ve known has been a critical backbone for California in many ways,” Sanchez said.
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