California Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed a proposal that would have made illegal immigrants eligible for a housing initiative offering up to $150,000 in interest-free loans for home purchases.
On Friday, Newsom rejected the bill introduced by Democratic Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula of Fresno.
The bill aimed to allow undocumented immigrants to qualify for California’s Home Purchase Assistance Program, benefiting first-time home buyers with loans for down payments.
“For those who have a good credit score and qualify for a loan, we are saying that we want you to set roots here in our great state, but only if you qualify,” Arambula told the Los Angeles Times.
Arambula introduced the bill in response to federal laws preventing undocumented immigrants from accessing state benefits without specific state legislation.
Republicans argued that the proposal would further encourage illegal immigration and hurt Americans who are having a hard time affording homes in the state.
“It’s a slap in the face to legal immigrants when we incentivize the breaking of our laws and the normalizing of being in this country unlawfully,” remarked Assembly member Bill Essayli (R).
“Giving taxpayer-funded housing subsidies to illegal immigrants will drive costs even higher and encourage more chaos at the border,” Republican Assembly Leader James Gallagher concurred.
Senate Republicans argued that “legal California taxpayers are already struggling to purchase and maintain their homes,” when they urged with Newsom to veto the bill.
They insisted that the legislation would also “further stretch the limited public resources available to those who are following the law and want to purchase a home.”
Ultimately for Newsom, the killing the bill came down to the bottom line.
“Given the finite funding available for CalHFA programs, expanding program eligibility must be carefully considered within the broader context of the annual state budget to ensure we manage our resources effectively,” Newsom explained in a statement to the state Assembly.
The legislation passed in the state Assembly with a 53-18 vote and garnered a 25-14 vote in the Senate, without the support of any Republicans.
“The bill that was sent to me was [on] a program that had no money, and it was expanding eligibility to a program that had no money,” Newsom said during a briefing.
“It seemed rather curious to me,” he continued. “So it was unnecessary and completely consistent with prior vetoes along those similar lines.”
Arambula is “deeply disappointed” that Newsom killed the bill, which he claimed was “about fairness” rather than immigration policies.
“The veto doesn’t change the fact that many people – including undocumented immigrants – dream of owning a home so that generational wealth can be passed to their children,” he commented.
“They are people who are responsible, work hard, and pay their ample share of taxes.”
The undocumented immigrants who qualified for the loans would have had to prove that they were taxpayers by producing Social Security or taxpayer identification numbers under the legislation.
Former President Donald Trump seemingly took aim at the bill on a national level on Thursday, when he announced that he would prohibit “the flood” of undocumented immigrants from obtaining home mortgages if re-elected.
Trump argued that illegal immigrants were inflating housing costs, stating, “My plan will ban mortgages for illegal aliens.”
