Fire-Ravaged California Spending Nearly $10 Billion on Health Care for Illegal Aliens

California, which was unable to stop the wildfires from spreading throughout Los Angeles last month and is now working to recover from the devastation, is poised to allocate nearly $10 billion towards health care for undocumented residents, according to a report from a nonpartisan state analyst.

As reported by Fox News: Guadalupe Manriquez, the program budget manager for the California Department of Finance, informed the Assembly Budget Committee on Monday that the state is “spending $9.5 billion total funds” to “cover undocumented individuals in Medi-Cal” for the current fiscal year.

Manriquez further clarified that the new figure is a “revised number based on the governor’s budget-updated estimates,” noting that the earlier figure was based on the previous “budget act.”

“The state is shelling out $9.5 billion on healthcare for illegal immigrants while emergency rooms overflow, hospitals teeter on the brink and working Californians struggle to see a doctor,” [California Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher] remarked. “Rather than making responsible choices, leaders are raiding the rainy-day fund to keep the spending spree going. This isn’t just a budget crisis — it’s a complete failure of leadership.”

The City of Los Angeles reduced its fire department budget last year and did not deploy firefighters in advance of the Palisades Fire, reportedly due to reluctance to pay overtime. Governor Gavin Newsom (D) also scaled back planned increases in funding for wildfire prevention efforts.

Recently, Newsom visited Washington to request federal assistance for managing the aftermath of the fires. He also authorized $50 million in new spending to combat President Donald Trump’s policies.

{Matzav.com}