Opinion ID: 1254655
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Nature of classification

Text: Preliminarily, we consider the nature of the classification created by respondent. Respondent's regulations provide for the exclusion of individuals from the FBU in a variety of contexts. [16] Respondent's implementation of his department's eligibility requirements (which include EAS exclusionary provisions) creates two classes of AFDC-eligible children: those who reside with ineligible persons, and those who do not. As earlier noted, ineligible persons may nevertheless qualify for inclusion in the FBU as essential persons under section 11203 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. Appellant's three older children, however, cannot under any circumstances be included in the FBU because of their undocumented status. This brings us to the particular exclusion with which we are here concerned. The application of the statutorily mandated exclusion for undocumented aliens, as implemented by respondent's regulations, creates a subclass within the previously identified class of eligibles residing with ineligibles  namely, AFDC-eligible children who reside with persons who are ineligible because of their undocumented status. Appellant does not argue that her undocumented children have a constitutional right to receive welfare benefits. Rather, she contends that although the challenged classification turns upon the status of the undocumented children, in practical effect it operates to deprive the eligible siblings of the full benefits to which they are entitled [17] while granting full benefits to those eligible children who do not reside with undocumented aliens. (6) (See fn. 18.) Our focus, then, is on discrimination (in the provision of AFDC benefits) against eligible children who, through no fault of their own, must live in the same home as their undocumented siblings. [18] The Legislature, having chosen to extend AFDC benefits to eligible children, then denies them, in part or whole, to a small class of eligible children solely on the basis of their familial relationship and residency with undocumented aliens. This case thus comes before us in an unusual posture in that it is the rights of citizens  not undocumented aliens  that are implicated. This situation is not unlike cases involving illegitimate children wherein the challenged classification is dependent upon the marital status of the parents but operates in effect to deprive children of their rights. The United States Supreme Court has consistently struck down legislation which discriminates against illegitimate children, reasoning that it is illogical and unjust to deprive a child simply because its natural father has not married its mother. ( Gomez v. Perez (1973) 409 U.S. 535, 538 [35 L.Ed.2d 56, 60, 93 S.Ct. 872]; see also Trumble v. Gordon (1977) 430 U.S. 762 [52 L.Ed.2d 31, 97 S.Ct. 1459]; Weber v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. (1972) 406 U.S. 164 [31 L.Ed.2d 768, 92 S.Ct. 1400].) We should be similarly hostile to legislative classifications which deprive eligible children of governmental beneficence simply because they are brothers or sisters of undocumented aliens. The fact that the children in the above-cited cases can be readily identified in a word  illegitimates  while it is more difficult to find a convenient label to describe the affected class in this case should not obscure the fundamental principle that when the Legislature differentiates between similarly situated persons, it must comport with the equal protection guarantees of the Constitution. Appellant correctly points out that the line drawn by respondent between AFDC-eligible children who live with undocumented siblings and eligible children who do not is clearly irrelevant to the goals and objectives of the AFDC program. The members of both classes are similarly situated with respect to the legitimate purpose of the AFDC program  the relief of eligible, needy children. All are needy, and meet the statutory criteria for assistance, and yet, one class of children is singled out for unequal treatment solely on the basis of the undocumented status of their family members  a factor unrelated to dependency, and over which they have no control. (7) (See fn. 19.) Thus, if this classification is to be sustained, the state must justify the lines it has drawn among similarly situated persons. [19]