Megrabian

Welfare and Institutions Code sections 18938 and 18940 determine eligibility for benefits under California’s Cash Assistance Program for Aged, Blind, and Disabled Legal Immigrants (CAPI). (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 18937 et seq.) An immigrant is eligible for CAPI benefits based in part on whether he or she “entered the United States on or after August 22, 1996.” (§ 18938, subd. (a)(2) & (3).) There are no California cases construing section 18938 or the phrase “entered the United States” as used in that statute.

Rita Saenz (Appellant) is director of the California Department of Social Services (DSS), which is charged with supervising CAPI. (§ 18937.) The DSS has construed “entered the United States” in section 18938 to mean the date an immigrant attained his or her current immigration status. (Cal. Dept. Social Services Manual of Policies & Procedure § 49-020.4 (MPP).) Kima Megrabian, Norair Chitechyan, Ji Qun Shi and Jin Kan Zhang (Respondents) were denied CAPI benefits under the DSS’s construction. They contend interpretation of the phrase should be governed by a federal regulation interpreting the same phrase in a nonanalogous federal statute to mean physical entry on or…