Report: LA County Welfare Benefits For Illegals Top $600M
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — New data from Los Angeles County officials shows up to $600 million in welfare benefits may have been paid out to illegal immigrants in 2010.
A report released this week by Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich from the Department of Public Social Services shows that in November 2010, parents who reside in the U.S. illegally collected $53 million in welfare benefits for their native-born children in Los Angeles County, up nearly 3 million from the same period in 2009.
The figures, including $22 million from CalWORKs and $31 million in food stamps, comprises approximately 22 percent of all welfare benefits in Los Angeles County.
Projections based on the monthly figures in 2010 show the total cost for the year will exceed $600 million, up from 2009 when the total sum of $570 million for CalWORKs and food assistance.
"When you add this to $550 million for public safety and nearly $500 million for healthcare, the total cost for illegal immigrants to County taxpayers exceeds $1.6 billion dollars a year – not including the hundreds of millions of dollars for education," said Antonovich.
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