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A California court has reportedly chosen to allow Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration to continue with a plan to funnel nearly $80 million of taxpayer funds into the hands of illegal aliens, despite reportedly admitting the plan is indeed illegal.
The decision was reportedly made Tuesday as per a lawsuit filed last month by the watchdog group Judicial Watch on behalf of two California taxpayers, Robin Crest and Howard Myers.
As part of the suit, Judicial Watch had requested a temporary restraining order against the Newsom administration.
“The Governor’s initiative clearly violates federal immigration law, 8 U.S.C. § 1621(a), which provides that unlawfully present aliens generally are ineligible for State or local public benefit,” the original request reads, as seen below:
According to a press briefing by JW published Tuesday evening, the request was denied.
“Though the court found that Judicial Watch was likely to succeed on the merits (that Governor Newsom had no authority under law to spend the money), the court found that there was a public interest in sending tax money to illegal aliens during the coronavirus crisis,” the briefing reads.
In a statement, JW president Tom Fitton revealed he plans to appeal the decision.
“It is astonishing that a court would allow a public official to ignore the law and spend tax money with no legal authority,” he said.
“Simply put, as the court seems to acknowledge, the governor has no independent legal authority to spend state taxpayer money for cash payments to illegal aliens. We will appeal the court’s manifest error.”
BREAKING: @TomFitton statement on CA’s court’s denial of @JudicialWatch request temp restraining order against CA Gov. Newsom to restrain spending taxpayers’ $79.8M to provide cash benefits to unlawfully present aliens(1/3).https://t.co/AOz0pDO0kq
— Judicial Watch 🔎 (@JudicialWatch) May 5, 2020
Filed on April 29th, the suit argued that the governor’s Disaster Relief Assistance for Immigrants Project (DRAIP) violates federal law. It was filed about two weeks after Newsom announced DRAIP at an April 15th presser.
“The initiative plans to spend $75 million to provide direct cash payments to illegal aliens and cost an estimated additional $4.8 million to administer,” JW notes. “The Disaster Relief Assistance for Immigrants Project plans to provide one-time cash benefits of $500 per adult / $1,000 per household to 150,000 unlawfully present aliens in California.”
“These benefits are not to be provided to U.S. citizens or legal aliens residing in the state, according to an April 17 fact sheet issued by the California Department of Social Services, the ‘Disaster Relief Assistance for Immigrants Fact Sheet,’ which reiterates that only unlawfully present aliens are eligible for direct assistance.”
Newsom has essentially left it up to President Donald Trump’s federal administration to take care of his actual law-abiding constituents.
Even with another generous handout headed their way, local illegals in California have still reportedly complained.
“I was really happy for a moment, but I can’t even pay half my rent. It’s not enough. It doesn’t cover basic necessities,” one Bay Area illegal named Diaz said to the San Francisco Chronicle.
One San Francisco official, Hillary Ronen, reportedly penned a letter to Newsom asking for even more benefits to be doled out.
“We’re asking the governor to go even further,” she reportedly said.
Proud to be part of this effort. @GavinNewsom really stepped up with the assistance to the immigrant community in California. Asking him to continue to do so. A one time assistance payment is not enough to keep immigrants safe. We can and must do more. https://t.co/hpALaR7qSA
— Hillary Ronen (@HillaryRonen) April 20, 2020
JW is reportedly not the first group to try and stop the governor’s plan. About two weeks ago, the Center for American Liberty filed its own emergency petition for a stay. That suit was filed on behalf of Whittier City Councilwoman Jessica Martinez and Ricardo Benitez, a legal immigrant.
While the status of the motion remains unclear, reports have emerged of Martinez facing the “wrath” of left-wing activists for trying to stick up on behalf of law-abiding citizens.
“Opponents have threatened a recall — although they can’t even start the process until July. They also demonstrated outside her home on Saturday and sent in 51 emails criticizing her, in lieu of public comment, to Tuesday’s City Council meeting,” the Whittier Daily News reported in late April.
A protest is underway in Whittier after Councilwoman Jessica Martinez sued the governor for financial relief to undocumented immigrants. pic.twitter.com/0PdxcLGZRn
— Eric Pierce (@EricPierceFTW) April 26, 2020
Locals left-wingers have also signed a petition demanding she recuse herself from the suit.
“Immigrants need to be included in relief efforts to restart our local economy. We take the well being of all of our Whittier community very seriously and for this reason we are asking you to recuse yourself from this misguided and shameless effort to scapegoat immigrants,” the petition reads.
“We demand that you look deep within yourself and find compassion for our fellow Whittier residents in their time of need. We ask that you do what is right.”
To be clear, illegal aliens ≠immigrants …
This, however, is a distinction that tends to be ignored by the fact-free left.
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Vivek@bizpacreview.com
V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.
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