Trump administration investigates L.A. County over federal benefits for unauthorized immigrants

The Trump administration announced Monday that it has launched an investigation into California’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants, a state program that provides monthly cash benefits to aged, blind, and disabled non-citizens who are ineligible for Social Security benefits due to their immigration status.

The investigation began in Los Angeles, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Los Angeles field office issuing a Title 8 subpoena to California’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants, the Department of Homeland Security said in a news release.

According to the department, the subpoena requests all records from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services, the agency that administers the state program, to determine if ineligible immigrants received supplemental security income from the Social Security Administration over the last four years.

“Radical left politicians in California prioritize illegal aliens over our own citizens, including by giving illegal aliens access to cash benefits,” 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,” Noem added. “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.”

According to Homeland Security, its Los Angeles investigations field office is subpoenaing records including 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.

“The scope of the subpoena is breathtakingly broad,” said Kevin R. Johnson, a professor of law at UC Davis, noting that the subpeona is not narrowed for privacy interests and seeks affidavits from people who support immigrants’ applications.

A lot of people could be worried, Johnson said, that any perceived support of someone who is undocumented could make them subject to criminal prosecution for harboring undocumented immigrants.

“Issuing a subpoena with this breadth is like trying to pick a fight, it’s asking for heaven and earth in terms of information,” Johnson said. “It’s classic Trump administration handiwork.”

Johnson, who specializes in immigration law, said there are two sides to the dispute: The federal government can work to ensure that benefits aren’t given to undocumented immigrants, as Congress has limited who can receive Social Security benefits and the localities have to comply with that law. But, he said, the county’s interest is: “‘Well, if they turn this information over, is it just going to be grist for the Trump mass deportation campaign?’”

The Department of Homeland Security states in its news release that more than 2 million “ineligible” immigrants received a Social Security number in fiscal year 2024.

According to the Public Policy Institute of California, about 1.1 million people receive Supplemental Security Income and State Supplementary Payments monthly grants, more than half of them age 65 and older. The California Assistance Program for Immigrants, the institute said, serves about 15,000 legal residents who do not meet additional noncitizen criteria for SSI.

California’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants’ website states that the 1996 Welfare Reform Act eliminated SSI and SSP eligibility for most noncitizens. But a small number of immigrants who live in California are eligible for the program if they are a low-income noncitizen who meets the immigration status criteria in effect for the programs as of Aug. 21, 1996, are 65 or older, blind or disabled, and ineligible for the supplementary payments solely due to their immigration status.

Johnson said he expected the subpoena to begin a long process, with challenges from L.A. County attorneys along with multiple court rulings.

While a more narrowly tailored subpoena from the administration may have been more effective for its investigation, Johnson said he suspects its goal was broader: to create a chilling effect among immigrants.

“Damage is done just by seeking the materials,” Johnson said.

“I don’t necessarily think the Trump administration cares if they win,” he added. “If they don’t get what they want, they’ll say it’s all the courts’ fault. But if you’re a person who receives any benefits, perhaps lawfully, you’re going to hear about this. It’s part of an entire mosaic of fear that’s being created in immigrant communities.”

The investigation comes after President Trump signed a presidential memorandum on April 15 to stop immigrants lacking documentation from obtaining Social Security Act benefits in what he called a bid to stop incentivizing illegal immigration and protect taxpayer dollars.

The memorandum directed the secretary of Homeland Security to ensure unauthorized immigrants do not receive funds from Social Security programs and prioritized civil or criminal enforcement against states or localities for potential violations of Title IV of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.

It also expanded the Social Security Administration’s fraud prosecutor program to at least 50 U.S. attorney offices and established a Medicare and Medicaid fraud-prosecution program in 15 U.S. attorney offices.