Each year, California invites people illegally in the country to apply for the same college aid packages available to citizens.

The deadline to apply for aid through the California Dream Act is March 2. As of last week, 19,141 students had applied – a bit more than half of last year’s total.

Applications were down last year as well, until the state staged a “cash for college” campaign to gin up business. Rapper DJ Khaled was enlisted to instruct illegal aliens to “secure the bag” to pay for college on the taxpayers’ dime. No word on how much the state paid Khaled for his public service announcement.

On cue, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., blamed President Donald Trump for spreading “fear” and scaring off applicants.

“This is a direct product of Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda. No one in America should ever have to live in fear of our government,” tweeted Harris, California’s former attorney general and all-but-announced presidential aspirant for 2020.

Trump should wear Harris’ scorn as a badge of honor. If the president’s positions on immigration enforcement deter illegal aliens from tapping more government funds, taxpayers benefit.

Erasing the distinction between legal and illegal status, Harris disingenuously proclaimed, “We must protect California’s students and safeguard their access to education.”

But she cannot nullify economic laws, even in the Golden State. Less money spent on illegal aliens would mean more college assistance available for the sons and daughters of legal, taxpaying citizens.

If Harris’ mimicry of Hillary Clinton is any barometer, Democrats will continue to pander to illegal aliens at any cost. That strategy didn’t work for the party in 2016. It’s not working in Congress now. It certainly isn’t aiding the finances of migrant-laden California, which, not coincidentally, imposes the highest top-tier tax rate and the fourth-biggest per-capita income tax bills in the nation.