A federal investigation into a state program providing monthly cash benefits to elderly and disabled noncitizens legally present in the U.S. is raising alarms among immigrant rights groups in California, who say the probe unfairly attacks the community’s “most vulnerable people” at a time when immigration authorities are working to deliver on President Donald Trump’s campaign promise of mass deportations.
The Department of Homeland Security said Monday it has launched an investigation into the California Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants to see if ineligible undocumented immigrants received federal benefits from the Social Security Administration over the past four years.
But no federal funds go toward the state assistance program and undocumented immigrants are not eligible to participate, Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles, or CHIRLA, told NBC News on Tuesday.
Salas is one of the immigration advocates who helped make the state cash assistance program a reality almost 30 years ago. She said the state program was established after Clinton-era welfare reforms excluded most noncitizens from receiving Supplemental Security Income, a federal benefit from the Social Security Administration that provides monthly payments to qualifying elderly and disabled people.
In response, California created its own version of the program to provide state aid to immigrants legally present in the U.S. who are not eligible for the federal version of the program. These include legal permanent residents or green-card holders, asylees, humanitarian parolees and individuals permanently residing under color of law as well as victims of human trafficking and domestic violence, according to the California Immigrant Policy Center, an immigrant rights organization.
“Undocumented people are not eligible for the program,” Salas said, adding that the DHS investigation has “no merit because it’s a legal immigrant program.”
As part of the probe, DHS issued a wide-ranging subpoena requesting records that include information of program participants such as applicants’ name and date of birth, copies of applications, immigration status, proof of ineligibility for benefits from the Social Security Administration and affidavits that supported the application.
Salas said that by targeting immigrant families, regardless of status, the Trump administration is “scraping at every single place where they can get data that could somehow lead them to somebody who’s undocumented in this country.”
To achieve this, Salas said, the administration is going after “our most vulnerable people — legal immigrants that are blind, in wheelchairs, in hospice care, in hospital beds, who are 65-year-olds, who are grandmas and grandpas — that’s who they’re going after. It infuriates me.”
According to the California Department of Social Services, which administers the state cash assistance program for immigrants, about 9,700 individuals in Los Angeles County are receiving an average of $1,077 per month in benefits.
These are “100% funded by the State of California,” the California Department of Social Services said in a statement Tuesday. “No federal funding is utilized.” Last year, Los Angeles County received $108,560,000 in state funding to administer the program.
DHS did not respond to questions from NBC News asking what kind of probable cause the agency has to believe the state program has provided federal benefits to undocumented immigrants.
Instead, it directed NBC News to a statement from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem saying, “The Trump Administration is working together to identify abuse and exploitation of public benefits and make sure those in this country illegally are not receiving federal benefits or other financial incentives to stay illegally. If you are an illegal immigrant, you should leave now. The gravy train is over. While this subpoena focuses only on Los Angeles County — it is just the beginning.”
The actions are consistent with a presidential memorandum Trump signed last month directing Noem “to ensure ineligible illegal aliens do not receive funds from Social Security programs and prioritize civil or criminal enforcement against states or localities for potential violations,” according to DHS.
The California Immigrant Policy Center said the Trump administration’s statements about the DHS investigation into the state cash assistance program are “inaccurate and misleading at best.”
“It is simply another attempt by the Trump administration to demonize and attack immigrant Californians,” the organization told NBC News in a statement Tuesday. “This investigation’s only objective is to cast a negative light on California’s inclusive policies and sow misinformation and confusion.”
Salas said the probe may also have a “chilling effect” that can discourage tax-paying immigrants from participating in programs they’re eligible for out of fear that their information will be shared with immigration authorities. “That’s very corrosive in a society where we all pay taxes,” she said.
Immigrant-led households in California pay an estimated $120 billion in federal, state and local taxes — including nearly $8.5 billion in state and local taxes paid by undocumented immigrants — helping fund social services programs for all Americans.
