California has built a second welfare system for people who broke the law to get here. And you're paying for it. City Journal just sent reporters into four welfare offices in Southern California. They asked if someone here illegally could sign up for benefits. Every office said yes. Cash assistance. Health care. Tax credits. Car insurance. Even free phones. At least $11 billion last year. Medi-Cal alone runs about $10 billion a year, more than double what Sacramento promised. And they're expanding food benefits again next year. Federal law says you can't use federal money for this. So the state just built workarounds and handed you the bill. Meanwhile my own homeowners insurance doubled. Families in El Cajon are working two jobs to make rent. Seniors are choosing between groceries and prescriptions. Nobody in Sacramento is building them a shadow program. And when nobody checks where the money goes, this is what you get. Last week the feds charged 12 people in San Diego County with stealing more than $10 million from childcare subsidies. Ghost daycares. No kids. Just invoices. That's what happens when government hands out money and never asks a single question. This is exactly why El Cajon sued the state over SB 54. Sacramento keeps writing laws that tie the hands of local cities and then sends us the tab. I'm not going to pretend this is normal. It isn't. Take care of the people who live here legally and pay the bills. Every dollar should be checked. And our leaders in Sacramento should have to answer for why that's apparently too much to ask.