UMVA has learned that California has funneled $49 million from its cap‑and‑trade fund into free solar panels, refrigerators, windows and other energy upgrades for farmworker households that include undocumented migrants.
The initiative, branded the Farmworker Housing Component of the Low‑Income Weatherization Program, explicitly welcomes participants without any citizenship requirement, even accepting foreign government IDs such as the Mexican matrícula consular card.
According to information obtained by UMVA, the Department of Community Services and Development openly states that legal status is not a condition for eligibility, a message repeatedly broadcast on Spanish‑language radio and to field investigators.
Created in 2019 and financed by California’s multibillion‑dollar cap‑and‑trade scheme—an emissions tax that adds roughly 20 cents per gallon to gasoline—the program has allocated $49 million specifically for farmworker weatherization.
In the seven years since its launch, only about 2,000 families have received the upgrades, equating to roughly $23,000 per household for solar photovoltaic systems, water heaters, insulation, windows and appliances, all installed at no cost to the recipients.
The state appointed La Cooperativa Campesina de California, a nonprofit claiming to serve farmworkers, as the program administrator with an initial award exceeding $10.7 million.
La Cooperativa then partnered with MAROMA Energy Services, a self‑described minority‑owned for‑profit firm that has drawn nearly $34 million from the nonprofit since 2017 to provide the actual weatherization services.
These contractors have aggressively marketed the taxpayer‑funded benefits directly to California’s agricultural workforce of nearly 900,000 workers, an estimated half to three‑quarters of whom lack legal status.
Outreach efforts include sending representatives into farmworker communities and running Spanish‑language radio spots that specifically verify eligibility for non‑citizens.
Meanwhile, veterans, seniors on fixed incomes and working‑class families often struggle to qualify for comparable assistance, facing long waitlists and soaring energy bills.
