RIVERSIDE (September 19)– A Northern California man and former soldier was sentenced on Thursday to 24 months in federal prison for posting online videos of himself threatening to kill multiple military personnel at Fort Irwin.
Christian Ernest Beyer, 42, of Petaluma, was sentenced by United States District Judge Suzanne S. Sykes.
Beyer pleaded guilty on June 28 to one count of sending threats by interstate communication. Initially, Beyer had been charged with interstate threats, a crime that carries a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison
“Mr. Beyer’s desire to carry out violence against members of our military and their families led to a federal prison sentence,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “Our military servicemembers deserve better and we will continue to prosecute those who seek to harm public servants.”
“Today’s sentence is a stern reminder that anyone who harms innocent military members and their families will serve jail time,” said Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force will continue to investigate all threats against those who bravely serve their country.”
Beyer enlisted in the Army in August 2000 and served as an armor crewman.
Beyer was was a member of the U.S. Army in good standing for nearly 21 years, having achieved the rank of master sergeant while serving in Korea.
During his service, he deployed to Iraq three times, including during the opening days of Operation Iraqi Freedom in April 2003. He also deployed to Kuwait twice.
It was after he returned to the United States from duty oversees that his life appears to have careened out of control.
Beyer was arrested at Fort Irwin on April 26, 2021 as the result of a domestic disturbance in which he was accused of pushing his wife and barricading himself in his home with an unregistered firearm.
This incident resulted in his arrest. On the basis of that arrest and subsequent behavior in the late summer and fall of 2021, in which he on multiple occasions was extremely intoxicated, heavily intoxicated, insubordinate, confrontational and belligerent, he was court-martialed. As a result of that tribunal, Beyer in Augut 2022 was found guilty of four violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including assault with the intent to inflict bodily harm and domestic assault. He was reduced in rank from a master sergeant (E-8) to sergeant first class (E-7), confined to the stockade for 45 days and made subject to forfeiture of $250 in pay month for 4 months.
He left the Army in March 2023.
Beyer was embittered about the manner in which his military career ended. He made multiple threatening statements aimed at other members of the military who had implicated him and then further launched himself into a trajectory of vitriol toward both other members of the military and law enforcement officers.
Beyer made direct threats against the commanding general of the base, Brigadier General Curtis Taylor, the chief of police for the post, other base police officers and a senior enlisted soldier.
Beyer’s maniacal descent worsened in October 2023, manifesting in the acts for which he was indicted.
On October 28, an intoxicated Beyer was arrested in Mendocino County on charges of disorderly conduct and jailed. He was released the next day. Over the next 48 hours he made a slew of videos, including the threatening ones that were at the center of the indictment that followed. On October 29, 2023, he took a break from recording the YouTube videos long enough to entangle himself in an altercation with a group of elderly individuals in a neighborhood other than his own after walking away from his vehicle.
According to court documents, on October 29 and 30, 2023, Beyer published several videos on his personal YouTube page. One of those videos, prosecutors said, contained multiple threats directed at four victims and their families. The victims were specific military personnel at Fort Irwin, according to federal prosecutors.
In the other videos Beyer posted in the same timeframe, he comes across as deeply mentally disturbed, manifesting, in psychological parlance, either or both tachylalia or tachylogia, known to the layman as motormouth, in which he incessantly dwells upon, accurately or inaccurately, having been wronged by his military colleagues or law enforcement officers who dealt with him, or both, his syntax peppered with profanities.
“Kill them, all of them,” Beyer states in one video. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. And if one of you wants to do it, go for it, dude. Die a fucking hero.”
In a video posed on October 30, 2023, Beyer says, “I will fucking come and hunt you,” with regard to individuals stationed at Fort Irwin.
Beyer at one point stated he was prepared to shoot his way onto Fort Irwin and kill specific targets unless they resigned from the Army.
“You have like two days or I’m coming myself, and you know I can fucking get there,” Beyer said in a video. “I will come there with guns.”
The indictment cites a video in which Beyer says, “I’m calling out the people that forced me out,” a reference to four specific soldiers stationed at Fourt Irwin. “Go ahead and fucking hang it up or you’re harboring those police like you’ve already done before and I will fucking come and hunt you.”
Beyer’s threats were credible, according to prosecutors, who said Army officials pointedly concerned that Beyer had knowledge of “how to access the Fort Irwin installation through unofficial trails and/or means and [knew ways in which] to circumvent official entry/access points.”
In another video posted the same day, Boyer stated, “If we don’t take up arms against the fuckin’ tyrants of this country, which is the entire law enforcement fucking from the goddamn top of the FBI to the fuckin’ first-day beat cop is the enemy of this fucking country, and if you guys can’t see that, you’re missing out, right?”
Immediately after the video was posted, U.S. authorities, including those in both military and civilian branches of the government, embarked on a manhunt for Beyer, one that was centered in Mendocino County, where he was believed to be located.
In Ukiah, he allegedly brandished a knife in an incident before he was apprehended, and then took flight, nearly running down a resident while fleeing in a car, then evading sheriff’s deputies, K-9 units, a California Highway Patrol airplane and other authorities as he approached Hopland.
He was ultimately taken into federal custody, and has remained incarcerated since November 2023.
The FBI investigated this matter as part of its Los Angeles Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Assistant United States Attorney Matt Coe-Odess of the General Crimes Section prosecuted this case.

In five of the 23 municipal races being held in San Bernardino County on November 5, five former officeholders are attempting a political comeback.

In Barstow Tim Silva, who was a member of the city council for 16 years between 2006 and 2022 but did not seek reelection two years ago, is now running for mayor.

In Hesperia, former Mayor and Councilmember Bill Jensen, who held office from 1998 until 2006, having been reelected in 2002, elected not to seek reelection in 2008. He attempted to return to office in a comeback in 2016 but was unsuccessful, making this his second attempt at a political comeback.

In Montclair, Carolyn Raft, who was on the city council from 1992 until 2020 when she ran unsuccessfully for mayor, is running to return to the city council.

In San Bernardino, Jim Penman, who served as San Bernardino’s city attorney for 26 years until his recall from office in 2013, is vying to represent the city’s Seventh Ward, two years he qualified as a runoff candidate for mayor but fell short in that effort.

In Victorville former City Councilman Eric Negrete, who served a single term on the city council from 2014 to 2018, is making a bid to return to office this year. This marks Negrete’s second such attempt, as he fell short in the 2020 election, in which a logjam of 22 candidates sought election to three open at-large positions. This year he is running as one of two candidates in District 5 in what is the city’s second by-district election.

Silva said he believed the most significant of his accomplishments while he was a member of the council consists of “having been able to get infrastructure improvements the city needed completed. Next, I would say bringing the Barstow Fire district into the city as the municipal fire department.”

The primary accomplishment he looks toward achieving if he is elected mayor, Silva said, was bringing new development to the city, which he said was already in progress, given the progress already made toward the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Company’s Barstow International Gateway Project, which is to consist of just under 4,500 acres of integrated rail facilities that are to transfer goods from international to domestic containers. The project represents a $1.5 billion investment in the community, which will ultimately create what are anticipated to be 20,000 new jobs intended to address logistics and supply chain issues relating to the importation of foreign goods to the United States.

Silva said if he will “stay on top of that. I would expect that to be my primary focus as mayor.”

He said that as mayor, he believes he will have greater reach in shaping Barstow’s future than he did as a councilman.

“The mayor is just one of five votes on the council, but he is someone who has more contact with the city manager, city staff in general, developers and the business community, so I think the mayor has more of an impact on the city than other elected leaders,” he said.

He is distinguished from the other candidates for mayor, Silva said, “by my experience and leadership.”

Jensen said that one of his most notable achievements during his eight years in office related to the city’s “reallocation of $2 million within the city budget towards the Hesperia city pavement plan, which continues to benefit the city’s infrastructure to this day.” Further, he said, his “strategic advocacy efforts also led to a significant increase in property tax revenue along the entire freeway corridor within the city limits, securing vital funds for ongoing and future infrastructure improvements.”

If returned to office, Jensen said he will focus on promoting “growth, prosperity, and inclusivity by fostering a business-friendly environment that attracts investment and creates jobs, improving public safety, enhancing infrastructure, and promoting economic development.”

He is distinguished from his competitors, Jensen said, by his understanding of the city’s unique challenges and opportunities, his experience in office, his private sector experience in the real estate industry and as a business owners and his demonstrated “ability to effectively address complex issues and drive positive change.”

Raft said that her accomplishments could be discerned “by just looking around Montclair at what happened under my 28-year watch. Whenever anyone asked for help, I assisted them and if what they asked wasn’t something that fell under my jurisdiction, I would send them to where they could get help and follow that up with phone calls to make sure they were attended to by whoever had the knowledge or authority. That explains my popularity for the seven terms I was elected.”

Raft said that if she is reelected, her intent is “to bring back the dignity and the honor to council. People should keep their eyes and ears open over the next few weeks as the campaign goes forward to hear about the person who took my seat. My opponent in this race cost the city over $700,000 in a sexual harassment lawsuit settlement. The people of this city know my reputation. The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin said I was local government’s most fiscally responsible representative when I was in office.”

Penman said one of his major accomplishments as city attorney consisted of his having hired former police department and probation department personnel as investigators and then unleashing them on the city, thereby effectuating the closure of, he said, “over 500 drug and gang houses” that were proliferating in the city at the time. He then repurposed those investigators into looking into suspected areas of political corruption involving elected and appointed officials as well as city staff members, he said. Those investigations in virtually every case were originally focused on misdemeanors but in many cases unearthed felonies, which his office did not have the authority to prosecute. In those cases, Penman said, through his development of working relationships with the district attorney’s office and the California Attorney general’s Office, cases were brought against the offenders, who were brought to justice through the courts or were otherwise forced to resign or were terminated.

He said that upon coming into office as city attorney, the city was plagued with 198 lawsuits, most of which he characterized as “nuisance suits,” ones initiated by plaintiffs and their attorneys who had expectations that the city would settle short of trial, despite the vast majority of those suits’ lack of validity. Penman said he remedied the matter by instructing his staff attorneys to prepare for trial in all those cases, at which point the number of suits dropped to well below 100. He thus substantially reduced the legal payouts the city was making, he said.

With then-Mayor Judith Valles, Penman said, he took note of the large numbers of parolees living in half-way houses in San Bernardino and determined that the head of the State of California’s Parole Board was, in his words, “dumping parolees from LA County in our neighborhoods. We confronted the chairman of the state parole board and got him to admit what was happening.” According to Penman, with the assistance of then State Senator Robert Presley, he got an agreement from the State of California to put a cap on the number of parolees to be sent to San Bernardino, and over the next several months and years, the number of parolees in the city reduced down to that number.

Penman said that if elected in November, he will point out to the mayor and city council that it is mishandling the homeless crisis in San Bernardino and that there are ways to remove the dispossessed from the city’s parks. First, he said, the city has the legal grounds to remove the homeless from the parks after 8 p.m. in the summer and after 5 p.m. in the fall, winter and spring, as long as it does not throw out their belongings and stores them for 30 days to allow them to be recovered. The city can then use it codes and state law to arrest the homeless as trespassers and transport them to the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga. The arrestees will be free to return to San Bernardino by walking the 20 miles back to the city. Some may do so, he said, but after several such arrests, most will elect not to return, he said. Moreover, he said, he supports having the city create an alternative temporary housing location for those homeless who persist in remaining in San Bernardino at the site of the former School of Hope, located off of 6^th Street between Waterman and Tippecanoe Avenue, on property owned by the city’s water department. He further said the city should replicate what he did previously in eliminating blighted properties that serve as a magnet for the homeless. That consisted of utilizing the city’s $1,000-per-day fines against banking institutions that had foreclosed on properties but did not keep them up to code after the eviction of the residents living there. This, Penman said, would prevent squatters from setting up residence on the properties.

Penman said he was distinguished from his opponent in the race by his “integrity and prior experience in public office.”

Negrete said his major contributions to the City of Victorville during his first term on the city council consisted of having “worked tirelessly to enhance public safety, promote economic growth, and improve the quality of life for all residents.”

His intent, if elected in November, is to work toward “enhancing public safety by building a new police station, hiring more deputies, and implementing robust counter-crime measures.”

Moreover, he said, he intends to focus on “fostering a business-friendly culture, so we can attract new enterprises and stimulate economic growth.”

He positively contrasts with his political opponent in this year’s election, Negrete says, as a consequence of his “blend of professional expertise, personal resilience, and community dedication.”

Derick Laija, 34 of Ontario, proved to be a less than gracious guest at a short-term rental in the Desert Heights district of Twentynine Palms where he was staying this week.

Members of the Abraham Family, who lived nearby at 3333 Bluegrass Avenue in the early evening of September 17 heard a commotion outside their home. When Hadgu Abraham, 63, his son, Asmerom Abraham, 31, and Hagdu’s wife, Freweiny Abraham, 61 emerged to see what was occurring, Laija, who had ingested psilocybin mushrooms, and was in the process of trying to steal the Abraham family vehicle, reacted violently, smashing all three in the head with a baseball bat. Asmerom also sustained blows to his torso and legs.

Hadgu Abraham succumbed on the spot. Asmerom and Freweiny, though injured, survived. One of them summoned the sheriff’s department at 7:49 p.m.

Arriving officers found Hadgu deceased. Ambulances were summoned and Freweimy was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment of head injuries. Asmerom was sent to a nearby hospital for injuries to his head and upper and lower body.

They detained Laija at the Abraham residence and took him to the Morongo Station for further questioning.

The bat Laija used in the fatal and near fatal assaults was recovered on the Abraham property.

Deputies held Laija long enough for the psilocybin effects to diminish, obtaining multiple statement from him. At 6 a.m. on September 18, he was transferred to West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga where he was booked on one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder. He is being held without bail.

The Abrahams had moved to the United States from Eritrea in 1996 and relocated to Twentynine Palms in 2004.

A bat was recovered at the scene, the Sheriff’s Department said.

Big Lots, the furniture, home décor, discount and liquidation chain will permanently close its Apple Valley distribution center at 18880 Navajo Road by the end of October, entailing the lay off of the 349 employees now working there.

In a letter to the California Employment Development Department, San Bernardino County Workforce Development Department Director Bradley Gates and Apple Valley Mayor Scott Nassif, Big Lots Vice President for Talent Development and Distribution Center Human Resources Julie Holbein stated Big Lots, Inc. is hereby providing you with notice that Big Lots will be permanently closing the Apple Valley Distribution Center.

Holbein sad the company was doing so in accordance with the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act and Chapter 4 of the California Labor Code to allow those impacted to make as timely of an adjustment to the circumstance as possible.

Those being let go include seven clerical staff, 192 material handlers, 38 equipment operators, an administrative assistant, 15 asset protection officers, two conveyor maintenance technicians, five maintenance technicians, four inventory auditors, four inventory control troubleshooters, 11 operations coordinators, one payroll/wage administraor, four production auditors, two senior conveyor maintenance technicians, seven senior maintenance technicians, three systems speicalists, three building maintenance technicians, one general manager, one human resources manager, 11 industrial housekeeprs, one inventory control manager, one maintenance/buuilding services manager, four operations managers, one systems supervisor, one director of distribution opreations one human resources representative, one asset protection manager, one production manager, two asset protection supervisors, two maintenance supervisors and 22 distribution center supervisors.

According to the Holbein’s letter, “All associates who are involuntarily terminated as a result of the closure will receive pay and benefits through November 3, 2024. There is no union representative and there are no bumping rights.”

Ohio-based Big Lots filed for bankruptcy earlier this month and has plans to unload its holdings to Nexus Capital Management LP, conditional upon no better offers for the company’s total assets being tendered.

It is doubtful that Nexus will undo the plan to close out the Apple Valley Distribution Center, as 240 stores outside of California and 75 stores in California are being targeted for closure. That includes one in San Bernardino County, that being the one located in Ontario.

Between January 1 and March 31, Big Lots nationwide lost $205 million.

In a brief face-to-face exchange through plexiglass with the Sentinel this week, accused arsonist Justin Wayne Halstenberg denied he lit the fire in northeastern Highland on the afternoon of September 5 that grew into the 39,232-acre conflagration known as the Line Fire.

Today, September 20, the Line Fire had charred 61.3 square miles and and was, according to the California Division of Forestry and Fire Protection, better than 54 percent contained. There are sporadic hot spots in the San Bernardino Mountains, but they are for the most part being attended to, as 2,956 firefighters, off and on, have been devoted to arresting the flames in the 15 days since its ignition.

Over the last three days, there has been minimal activity across the Line Fire area. Most of the smoke from the fire is coming from the Santa Ana River and Bear Creek drainages. This afternoon, a storm system moved across the area. Though out and out thunderstorms did not develop, the system dropped drizzle that was of use in muffling the fire danger.

That was not the case during the third to ninth day of the fire.

Originally dubbed the Baseline Fire, it resisted efforts by the California Division of Forestry, known by the acronym CalFire, which serves as the contract fire department for the City of Highland, and the San Bernardino County Fire Division, to knock it down.

A CalFire incident management team was activated on September 6, as the steep terrain of the area into which the fire was spreading created challenges.

With the escalation of the surrounding heat, the fire began to expand rapidly on September 7 into the San Bernardino Mountains, prompting evacuation orders for the communities of Running Springs and Arrowbear Lake, thereafter followed by evacuation orders to those in the communities of Angelus Oaks, Seven Oaks and all campgrounds and cabins in the area; Green Valley Lake north from Highway 18 along Green Valley Lake Road; the community of Forest Falls; and the community of Mountain Home Village. Those orders pertained to 11,400 structures under what was deemed to be immediate threat.

There are currently 56,100 structures threatened, including 11,400 under evacuation orders and 44,700 under evacuation warnings. Damage inspection teams are working in the fire area. So far, they have identified three structures that were damaged and one that was destroyed. Their inspections include residences, multi-family dwellings, outbuildings, and commercial buildings.

Evacuation orders were based upon the incident commander’s determination that there was an immediate threat to life in the area covered by the order. The issuance of the orders carried the full weight of California law, authorizing law enforcement officers to arrest those who did not comply. The areas were lawfully closed to public access.

On September 7, Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency existed in San Bernardino County as a consequence of the fire, and he authorized the use of a Fire Management Assistance Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover elements of the firefighting effort.

The California National Guard was deployed, including four UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, two C-130 aircraft, hand crews, and one military police company to assist with evacuations.

As firefighters became increasingly involved in the effort, which included the deployment of the California National Guard, including four UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, two C-130 aircraft, four 20-person hand crews assigned to work in support of CalFire’s efforts and a military police company to support the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department with evacuations and traffic control points in evacuated areas, the United States Forest Service issued Forest Order NO. 05-12-00-24-09, creating a forest closure area around the Line Fire. All National Forest lands, trails, and roads were closed to the public within that zone.

Additionally, evacuation warnings, promptings short of orders, were given to residents and businesses within the communities of Cedar Glen, Lake Arrowhead, Twin Peaks, Crestline, and Valley of Enchantment, along with the area from Garnett Street east to Bryant Street and Carter Street north to Mill Creek and the area of Big Bear Valley from the dam to Cactus Road, Erwin Lake, Sugar Loaf, Big Bear City, Big Bear Lake, and Fawnskin. The evacuation warnings pertained to 44,700 structures under less than immediate threat.

In total, according to CalFire, there were 56,100 structures threatened. CalFire dispatched damage inspection teams in the fire area. In the initial round of inspections, they identified three structures that were damaged and one that was destroyed. The inspections extended to residences, multi-family dwellings, outbuildings, and commercial buildings.

On Tuesday, September 10, as the Line Fire galloping northward and upward through the forest overran and destroyed the Keller Peak Fire Lookout, a 98-year-old facility near Running Springs. Erected in 1926, it was the oldest of a handful of remaining original towers, and the one deemed to have the most picturesque view, which included Lake Arrowhead and Lake Gregory on the south side of the mountain and Lake Silverwood on the north side of the mountain and both the Pacific Ocean and Santa Catalina Island to the distant west.

The same day, 50 miles from Keller Peak and 36 miles from where the fire had started in Highland, detectives with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department sojourned across the San Bernardino County/Riverside County line to a home at 1394 Detroit Street in Norco, where they arrested 34-year-old Justin Wayne Halstenberg, whom they maintain was the persistent arsonist who had touched off the Line Fire near the intersection of Baseline Road and Alpin Street on September 5.

After investigators, led by Battalion Chief Matt Kirkhart with CalFire and Jake Hernandez of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s specialized arson unit, had determined that the fire had been deliberately set with the use of materials they said for prosecutorial reasons they cannot presently identify, they began examining available video footage including traffic cameras around Baseline Road, identifying a white truck as the vehicle used by the arsonist. Further evidence implicating Halstenberg was obtained from at least one license plate reader in the area. Investigators made a direct link between Halstenberg and the ignition of the fire on the basis of his vehicle license plate, which was documented by the license plate recorder as being in the area at the time of what can be shown as the third and successful effort to start the fire, as well as at two previous unsuccessful attempts.

A search warrant was served at Halstenberg’s home at the time of his arrest. According to investigators, material indicating he was responsible for setting the wildfire was found during that search.

On Thursday, the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office charged Halstenberg, who remains in jail without bail, with nine felony counts, including a single count of aggravated arson, three counts of arson on structure or forest land, three counts of possession of material or a device for arson, one count of arson resulting in bodily harm, and a count of arson of an inhabited structure.

He was set to be arraigned on Friday September 13, in Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court, but the matter was postponed until Monday, September 16.

On September 16, however, that arraignment was delayed until the following, Tuesday, September 17, as arrangements to provide Hastenberg with legal representation unfolded.

On Tuesday, at 8:01 a.m., by means of a closed-circuit transmission from the West Valley Detention Center, where he is being held in special confinement in Unit 13, Halstenberg made a non-physical/virtual appearance in the West Valley Courthouse in Rancho Cucamonga in Department R-? before Judge Arthur Benner II. Present were Deputy District Attorney Andrew Peppler, who is prosecuting the case and had complete and unfettered access to the investigative file on Halstenberg, and Deputy Public Defender Marty Miller, who is defending Hastenberg and had only a single page charge sheet relating to the case, FSB24003353, and no further information.

Eleven charges were rolled out against Hastenberg, a single count of PC451.5(A)-F: Aggravated Arson; a single count of PC451(A)-F: arson causing great bodily injury; four counts of PC451(C)-F: arson of forest land; three counts of PC453(A)-F: possession of material or a device to set a fire; and two counts of PC451(B)-F: Arson of an inhabited structure or property Hastenberg pleaded not guilty to all counts, each of which is being charged as a felony.

Judge Benner assigned Miller and the public defenders to serve as Hastenberg’s legal counsel.

A pre-preliminary hearing was set for September 23 at 8:30 a.m. in Department S3 at the San Bernardino Justice Center before Judge Glenn Yabuno and a preliminary hearing for September 30, also before Judge Yabuno In Department 3 of the San Bernardino Justice Center.

Halstenberg is being held without bail.

On September 18, the afternoon custody sergeant at the West Valley Detention Center preempted the Sentinel’s scheduled interview with Halstenberg, after the department on September 17 had cleared the Sentinel to speak with the inmate.

The Sentinel immediately rescheduled the interview for the next day.

On September 19, the Sentinel was able to speak with Halstenberg via electronic hook-up in a booth in the visitors room immediately adjacent to Unit 13 at the West Valley Detention Center. The Sentinel was not allowed the use of a notebook or writing utensil nor of a recording device.

After introductions and the Sentinel’s opening question about the accusations against him, Halstenberg said, “I’m innocent.”

To the Sentinel’s follow-up question, Halstenberg indicated there was some order of mistaken identity at play in the case.

Before the Sentinel could zero in on his whereabouts on September 5 and the specifics in the allegations in the district attorney’s complaint, Halstenberg informed the Sentinel that he did not want to discuss the case or make any statement.

Before hanging up and terminating the exchange with the Sentinel, Halstenberg said, “My mom only has four months to live. This is wrong.”

By Richard Hernandez
Governor Gavin Newsom is contemplating signing into law a bill passed by the California Legislature that would provide undocumented immigrants unemployment benefits.
Many are questioning the wisdom of including illegal immigrants in California’s unemployment program. Unemployment coverage is provided by a mixture of tax money, payments into the unemployment insurance fund made by employees while they are working and by employers. That undocumented aliens who have not contributed to the fund would be eligible to draw from it, endangering the funds solvency for those for whom it is intended, enrages some California residents.
Illegal agreements already have access to health care and other social benefits.
In 2020, the state allowed qualifying low-income undocumented immigrants to qualify for the California Earned Income Tax Credit, a state tax credit worth hundreds of dollars, despite the consideration that many illegal aliens do not make income filings. In 2021, the state, which was already providing health care to undocumented mothers and their undocumented children up to the age of 25, made public health care available to undocumented migrants over the age of 50 living in California.
In legislation passed last year, which went into effect on January 1, the State of California expanded health insurance to about 700,000 illegal aliens between the ages 26 and 49.
This year, Senate Bill 227, authored by State Senator Maria Elena Durazo and co-authored by Wendy Carrillo and Miguel Santiago, was passed by both the State Senate and California Assembly. As worded the bill requires that by March 31, 2025, the California Department of Employment Development finalize a detailed plan to establish a so-called “permanent excluded workers program” to provide cash assistance that resembles unemployment insurance benefits to unemployed workers who are ineligible for unemployment insurance due to their immigration status. Those unemployed would receive $300 per week while they remain on the dole and are not employed. Continue reading →