DHS Probes CA’s Noncitizen Handout Program

The Trump administration is investigating whether California’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI), a program that pays state money to noncitizens who are not eligible for Social Security benefits because of their immigration status, is paying “ineligible illegal aliens.”

Noncitizens who are over 65, blind or disabled, and are ineligible for Social Security benefits — specifically Supplemental Security Income and State Supplementary Payment — due to their immigration status alone, can receive CAPI benefits. Those eligible can typically receive up to $1,206.94 a month, according to California Disability Benefits 101.

U.S. citizens are not eligible to receive CAPI. In July 2024 alone, CAPI paid 16,852 recipients, a state report shows.  

CAPI benefits are purportedly reserved for eligible noncitizens who are legally present in the U.S. or meet refugee criteria. However, ICE Homeland Security Investigations served a subpoena Monday to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services, which administers CAPI, to “determine if ineligible illegal aliens received Supplemental Security Income (SSI) from the Social Security Administration” from January 2021 to present.

According to the DHS, the subpoena requests applicant information, including name and date of birth, application copies, immigration status, and proof of ineligibility for benefits from the Social Security Administration.

“Radical left politicians in California prioritize illegal aliens over our own citizens, including by giving illegal aliens access to cash benefits,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. “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.”

California established CAPI in 1998 after then-President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in 1996, better known as the Welfare Reform Act. The act removed legal immigrants from “most” public assistance programs for their first five years in the U.S. or until they became citizens.  

President Donald Trump signed an April 15 memorandum in part empowering the secretary of labor, the secretary of health and human services, and the commissioner of the Social Security Administration to consult with Secretary Noem and “ensure ineligible aliens are not receiving” Social Security money. Trump directed them to prioritize “civil or administrative enforcement” against states or local governments “that do not take adequate measures to verify eligibility” and to “stop payments to deceased or otherwise ineligible payees.”

“Under the previous administration, more than 2 million ineligible illegal aliens received a Social Security Number in fiscal year 2024 alone,” a DHS release announcing the subpoena says. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Homeland Security will work with its federal partners to deliver on his promise to put Americans, and their tax dollars, first.”