The powerful Latino Caucus in the California State Legislature is slamming Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) for his new budget, in which he flip-flops on providing “free” Medicaid, known locally as Medi-Cal, to illegal aliens.

– News reported Newsom’s new stance as a concession to “reality,” noting that the state had spent itself into billions of dollars in new debt after he extended “free” health care to all illegal aliens last year:

As part of his plan to fill the hole, Newsom’s revised 2025-26 budget is proposing $5 billion in savings by barring new “undocumented” immigrants from joining Medi-Cal — though he said that existing enrollees would not lose their benefits.

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Newsom’s earlier policy of “free” health care for illegal aliens caused Medi-Cal to slide towards insolvency. The program was forced to borrow more than $6 billion earlier this year simply to stay financially afloat.

The result is a political backlash, as Latino leaders, who feel Newsom rode their votes to power, accuse Newsom of betraying them for the sake of his presidential ambitions.

The Los Angeles Times reported: “Latino legislators criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget cuts to Medi-Cal Monday afternoon, saying the plan to freeze enrollment and charge premiums for those adult immigrants without documentation already enrolled was a betrayal of California’s promise to protect the vulnerable.”

The San Francisco Chronicle‘s Joe Garofoli likened Newsom’s flip-flop to his change of opinion on biological males competing in female sports as transgender athletes. There, too, Newsom irritated LGBTQ+ activists, who have been at the core of his political support since he became the first U.S. official to authorize same-sex marriages two decades ago as mayor of San Francisco.

In a column titled “Gavin Newsom needs to focus on current job,” Garofoli noted a recent poll in which a majority of California voters said they believed the governor is too focused on running for president in 2028 and needs to focus on his existing responsibilities.
Newsom seemed more focused on national headlines than on the state’s pressing issues, Garofoli said, noting that Newsom had recently demanded that cities ban homeless encampments, which deflected blame for the rising number of homeless people — despite billions in spending — to local governments, but had no practical implications.