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CIPC Sees State Budget as Positive Step to Real Investment in Immigrant Communities

Today, Governor Newsom signed an even leaner budget  than the one passed by the state legislature last week. In the wake of a global pandemic, the governor removed the legislature’s commitment to implementing Medi-Cal for income-eligible  seniors by 2022, an incomplete investment for ITIN filers in the CalEITC and no protections for ICE detainees. 

COVID-19 laid bare the cracks in our social infrastructure and continues to reveal the depth of wealth disparities in our state – especially in low-income communities of color. In a moment where a national revolution led by Black advocates demands we envision a different future rooted in equity, denying health care access and modest tax income to low-income immigrant communities exacerbates the current crisis. It misses the courage that the current moment is demanding of us —that we must not only imagine a better world, but that we put our dreams into action, right now. 

California’s low-income undocumented seniors—a group uniquely vulnerable to COVID-19 and its devastating effects—need health care now not in an unknown point in the future. The partial inclusion of ITIN filers with children under 6 in the CalEITC is not enough,  leaves many vulnerable tax-paying immigrant families at risk of falling into poverty. 

“As COVID cases and unemployment continue to rise in California, immigrants need support now,” said CIPC executive director, Cynthia Buiza. “Governor Newsom must take action to ensure all Californians are treated with the same compassion and support they need to survive. Immigrants across the state are essential to our economy, to our communities, and to our mutual well-being.”

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