While the Left continues to claim the illegal immigrant population does not place a financial burden on the American taxpayers, the Seattle City Council passed a resolution this week asking Governor Jay Inslee to create a $100 million “relief fund” for illegal immigrants who were ineligible to receive a coronavirus relief check from the federal government.
According to the Daily Wire, the resolution, which passed unanimously by a vote of 9-0, requested the creation of a “Washington Worker Relief Fund” to provide “economic assistance to undocumented Washingtonians during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The resolution cites statistics from the American Immigration Council, which show more than 250,000 undocumented workers live in Washington and more than 130,326 children in Washington are living with at least one undocumented family member.
Fox News reports the resolution serves as merely a request but is not binding. Whether Inslee’s administration will create the fund remains to be seen. But Seattle’s mayor contends the fund is necessary to keep one of Seattle’s “vulnerable” populations afloat.
“Looking out for the most vulnerable in our community is even more critical in times of crisis,” Mayor Jenny Durkan said. “It is all the more important to ensure we are not pushing people further into the shadows.”
The resolution’s request far surpasses the $75 million California proposed to spend on illegal immigrants in the state, which, according to the Daily Wire, has five times the illegal population of Washington.
Washington’s KTTH 770 AM conservative talk radio host Jason Rantz contends the resolution is irresponsible and ripe for fraud, as it calls for the funds to be administered by community-based organizations. “How would that work?” he asks. “Show up, claim you’re in this country illegally, then get your cash?”
Rantz contends the fund would prove another opportunity for “fraudsters” to benefit from inept government oversight. “Given the state can’t even handle legitimate unemployment claims from taxpayers — sending out $1.6 million to fraudsters,” he opined, “something tells me this whole system would be ripe for abuse.”
Democrats across the country have advocated for coronavirus relieft payments for illegal immigrants.
PJ Media reports California is using state funds and private donations to allow illegal immigrants to apply for a $500 payment for individuals or a $1,000 check for families, prompting backlash from the Center for American Liberty, which has sued the state in response. The Center asserts the relief money is “not a slush fund for the governor to spend as he sees fit.” And all indications point to the fund running out of money quickly. When the state website opened this week for individuals to apply for the funds, the site was overwhelmed with traffic and crashed.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot signed an executive order that allows illegal immigrants to receive coronavirus benefits from the city, Daily Wire reports.
Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a $3 trillion bill that would allow illegal immigrants to receive the next round of stimulus checks, Fox News reports. Eligible individuals would receive a $1,200 stimulus check, up to $6,000 per household. The House defeated a Republican effort to prevent undocumented immigrants from retroactively receiving stimulus payments during the pandemic, The Hill reported, though 13 Democrats broke party lines to vote in favor of the Republican effort.
And while no one wants to see any families struggle, especially during a public health crisis that has brought the economy to a halt, talks of relief payments for undocumented individuals underscore the financial burden of illegal immigration on American taxpayers even at the best of times.
A 2019 report by the Federation for Immigration Reform (FAIR) revealed the exorbitant cost of illegal immigration to U.S. taxpayers is $115.9 billion annually. “Illegal aliens are net consumers of taxpayer-funded services and the limited taxes paid by some segments of the illegal alien population are, in no way, significant enough to offset the growing financial burdens [they] impose on U.S. taxpayers,” the report states.
Coronavirus relief payments for illegal immigrants would only serve to overburden an already overwhelmed economy, opponents argue. “I didn’t think a global pandemic meant it was time to stop helping American citizens who are desperate for assistance. Now, more than ever, we need to make sure these rebate checks go to Americans who need it,” contends Representative Denver Riggleman (R-Va.), who proposed preventing coronavirus relief payments for undocumented individuals.
Of course, the federal coronavirus relief stimulus program has proven to be a financial burden on the economy, with or without the inclusion of payments to illegal immigrants. The U.S. Debt Clock currently stands at $25 trillion, a debt of more than $200,000 per taxpayer. And any “relief” achieved by the federal stimulus checks has long been replaced by financial insecurity once again as Americans reach the end of yet another month of shutdowns.
Critics have long argued for the reopening of the American economy to avoid economic catastrophe (as well as to improve health outcomes) in lieu of stimulus efforts. Some epidemiologists contend the lockdowns served to merely push the inevitable down the line while simultaneously hurting economies. Sweden has made headlines for its decision to avoid strict lockdown measures, opting instead to aim for herd immunity. According to Sweden’s former chief epidemiologist and internationally recognized expert who advises the World Health Organization, herd immunity is the “best” strategy, claiming lockdowns merely delay the inevitable and push “deaths into the future,” rather than prevent them.
Spain’s AS.com reports,
While populations in other European countries begin to move about again as lockdown restrictions are eased, which will likely lead to a rise in covid-19 cases and deaths once again, Stockholm will reach herd immunity (the 40-60% rate of infection needed to prevent spread of the coronavirus), by June, according to Dr. Giesecke. The assumption is that when countries count the death toll a year from now, their figures will be similar, regardless of the measures taken, although the economic damage in Sweden will be far less.
Until the lockdowns end and the economy reopens, Americans and residents in the United States, legal or illegal, will continue to suffer financially.
Photo: Julia_Sudnitskaya / iStock / Getty Images Plus
