California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, is reportedly considering providing coronavirus relief aid to illegal aliens out of the state coffers. This is something that's also been suggested by House Democrats at the federal level, but appears to be gaining no traction, I'm happy to report. It's a particularly bizarre move when the Los Angeles Times is reporting that the economic damage caused by the virus may completely deplete the state's cash reserves.
Many readers elsewhere in the nation may shrug their shoulders at Newsom's considerations, considering them ill-advised, but a matter for Californians to deal with. The problem with that view is that it overlooks a fundamental fact: Money is fungible, which is to say indistinguishable and easily interchanged. This interchangeability is the reason that money laundering is the scourge that underlies, and funds, so many serious criminal offenses, ranging from drug trafficking to gun-running to terrorism.
So when Newsom hands out bundles of money to illegal aliens with one hand, while holding out the other for federal bailouts, taxpayers throughout the country need to understand that California's infusions of cash and assistance programs for illegal aliens are underwritten by the entire country.
Newsom is counting on it, because, once laundered through the various state agencies, the vast amounts of money will be impossible to trace. At the very least, being on the receiving end of generous federal payouts frees up state funds that might otherwise be obligated to more legitimate purposes than aiding individuals who have no right to be in the United States and who, when they occupy jobs, are taking them at the expense of lawful workers — often those at the bottom of the economic ladder who most need them.
Were Congress still a responsible federal institution, strings would be attached to the funds authorized for disbursal to ensure that this kind of irresponsible (if not malfeasant) use of federal taxpayers' hard-earned contributions to the treasury could never happen. But of course we haven't had that kind of Congress for a long time.