A new report highlights how federal COVID funds were used in Washington state to provide $1,000 checks to illegal immigrants who were ineligible to receive federal economic impact payments during the pandemic due to their immigration status.
The report, from the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC), points to money administered by the State and Local Coronavirus Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF), which was created by the American Rescue Plan Act and was intended to help state and local governments with their response and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Washington state received $4.4 billion in total funding from that program.
The group's report, which calls for a smaller federal government, highlighted how $340 million in funding went to a program that sent $1,000 checks to illegal immigrants in the state. The funds, approved by the Washington state legislature in April 2021, provided “another round of funding for undocumented Washingtonians,” according to an impact report on the program.
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A woman walks past a street sign depicting Lady Liberty preventing an immigrant family from crossing the wall, during a “defund the police” march from the King County Juvenile Jail to City Hall in Seattle, Washington, on 5 August 2020. ((Photo by JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images))
Washington's COVID-19 Immigrant Relief Fund was first created in 2020 to provide checks to those who are not eligible for government assistance programs due to their immigration status. Treasury documents confirm that the state has since provided an additional $340 million in federal relief funds for the one-time cash grants, with 10% of the funds going to community organizations to administer the program.
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“The $340 million project is categorized as a 'cash transfer' expense under the SLFRF, approved for the state of Washington. This means that the Biden Administration directly subsidized 'undocumented' immigration under the guise of immigration relief. COVID-19 pandemic,” the EPIC report said.
The state said it had previously invested $128 million in Trump-era CARES Act funds for 120,000 immigrants who did not qualify for economic relief, but that the funds were not enough for the number of applications the program received.
The fund has already ended and the last payments will be made in early 2023. State officials said the fund was an opportunity “to help people who may have been left out of other federal and state resources to address the economic impact of the pandemic “.
The Center for Economic Policy Innovation report highlights several other projects related to illegal immigration for which federal funds were used, including programs in Arizona for art, music and dance classes for immigrants and the expansion of shelters in Massachusetts.
“The Senate is releasing a supplemental budget that includes a bipartisan border deal. However, the administration has been actively encouraging illegal immigration by using SLFRF COVID money to provide cash assistance, housing, legal assistance and other benefits to undocumented immigrants,” Paul Winfree, president and CEO of EPIC, told Fox News Digital.
Winfree also emphasized that there is still $120 billion in unspent money left in the fund and called on lawmakers to suspend those funds.
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“Until Congress recovers this money, it will continue to serve as a magnet for illegal immigration,” he said.
The report comes amid continued concern about the flow of illegal immigrants into the US Congress, which is currently negotiating a supplemental funding bill, which would include aid to communities hosting immigrants. But Republicans have tried to include restrictions on asylum and the government's use of parole.
