The math is conclusive, proved by study after study: Food assistance reduces poverty. When cash-strapped workers and families get help with the cost of food, they’re able to move resources to cover other basic needs like rent and medicine.
So it’s no surprise that a coalition dedicated to ending hunger in California was disappointed when Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2024-25 budget revision delayed expanding such assistance to include undocumented immigrants over age 55. That expansion, originally set for 2025, is now tentatively pushed back to 2027.
“What the immigrant community is experiencing right now is the same exclusion they’ve been experiencing for decades,” said Benyamin Chao, a health and public benefits policy analyst with the California Immigrant Policy Center. The CIPC is a co-sponsor of Food4All, a statewide campaign to include all income-eligible Californians in food assistance programs, regardless of their immigration status.
“The expansion was our opportunity to fight the negative consequences of excluding immigrants from food assistance,” Chao said. “The effect of this decision is to push back the effort to reduce poverty in the immigrant community.”
It’s all true, and it all matters. The CIPC estimates that hundreds of thousands of California residents will be affected by the delay.
But there is a broader context behind the sense of urgency on the topic: Newsom, a strong supporter of extending benefits to the state’s estimated 1.85 million undocumented immigrants, won’t be the governor forever. The opportunity that Chao mentioned is now.
Newsom’s commitment to extending state benefits to all California residents isn’t in question. The governor’s administration has worked systematically to expand Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid, to include all residents regardless of their immigration status, and the May revision does not touch that effort.
Newsom has affirmed his support for the same kind of inclusion when it comes to the California Food Assistance Program and its primary arm, CalFresh, which reaches nearly 5 million people each month. The move to include all those age 55 and older was to be the first step in that process. (Undocumented immigrants age 54 and younger are currently ineligible to participate.)
To qualify for CalFresh benefits, a family of four can earn no more than $40,560 per year before taxes; for a single person, that threshold is $19,578. CalFresh pays cash assistance in the form of an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card. In an example provided by Contra Costa County, the family of four would receive $973 per month, a single person $291.
The state’s estimated $27.6 billion budget deficit forced cuts in some programs and delays in the implementation of others, and Newsom and his advisers ultimately decided to kick the can down the road on the CalFresh expansion. But in 2027, when assistance would theoretically begin for undocumented immigrants 55 and older, Newsom will no longer be in office.
“We are aware of his term ending soon,” Chao said of Newsom, who can’t run for re-election in 2026 because of term limits. “If I were to speak to him, I would definitely leave that as a reason why he should double down on his commitment now. It is something to really cement his legacy as a champion for immigrants in California.”
On Tuesday, members of the Food4All coalition appeared at the State Capitol along with several members of the Legislature, including state Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D-Bakersfield) and Assemblymembers Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles), Liz Ortega (D-San Leandro) and Juan Carrillo (D-Antelope Valley). The legislators and the coalition will continue to press for the CalFresh expansion to be put back into the budget.
Food assistance and reduced poverty go hand in hand. Research published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2021 found that the federal food assistance program, SNAP, both reduced food insecurity and decreased poverty among income eligible recipients. Having enough food helps build economic stability.
At the same time, undocumented immigrants in California face startlingly high levels of poverty. New data using the California Poverty Measure, a tool for gauging state-specific information, found that 64% of undocumented immigrants in the state live in or near poverty, compared to 35% statewide.
Solving an issue of that magnitude requires an effort on multiple fronts, including moving more workers in the state toward a living wage. Removing roadblocks to the state’s most powerful food assistance program is only one piece, but it’s a significant one.
Undocumented immigrants paid an estimated $3.7 billion in state and local taxes in 2019 alone, and they make up 6% of the state’s workforce. The state has a vested interest in seeing that those workers and families fend off poverty, and one way to do that is to offer them the same help in buying food that other income-eligible people in the state receive.
Chao said the Food4All Coalition has been led to believe that CalFresh expansion in 2025 would be one of the programs near the top of the list to be reinstated, should financial conditions change. If so, it would mark the continuation of Newsom’s efforts as governor to include all Californians under the umbrella protections provided by the state.
“Monthly food assistance gives tangible resources to people to combat poverty and find a living here in California,” Chao said. “During his tenure, the governor has demonstrated some real leadership for California to make our safety net more inclusive for immigrants.”
The job is not finished, and the end of Newsom’s tenure looms as a significant moment in the drive for an expanded safety net. The clock is ticking.
