House Democrats have introduced legislation that would allow illegal aliens to receive money from the coronavirus relief package recently signed into law by President Trump.
The bill, titled the Leave No Taxpayer Behind Act, was introduced by Representative Lou Correa (D-Calif.) as an amendment to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
“I was appalled to learn hardworking, taxpaying immigrants were left out of the $2 trillion CARES Act,” Correa said in a statement.
Under the CARES Act, individuals making $75,000 or less will receive a one-time $1,200 check from the federal government. Married couples will get a $2,400 check, and qualifying households will get an additional $500 per child.
Correa’s Leave No Taxpayer Behind Act would include within the recipients of these checks persons who have an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN). This number is assigned to foreign nationals who are not eligible for a Social Security Number, including illegal aliens, foreign national students, and foreigners who own or invest in a U.S. business but live in another country.
Another co-sponsor, Representative Judy Chu (D-Calif.), said:
The CARES Act is meant to help our whole economy survive this crisis. You cannot do that by excluding entire segments of the population. This virus does not care about immigration status. It does not discriminate and neither should we. Immigrants own businesses and homes, support families, and pay rent, and contribute to their communities. Making it impossible for them to receive the same benefit we are sending to everyone else just means those immigrants will have a harder time affording food or rent, and that leaves us all worse off. I hope to see this corrected in the next relief package.
And Representative Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who joined Correa and Chu in announcing the bill, contended that “our relief programs shouldn’t discriminate against those who need help during this crisis, and this legislation ensures that immigrants with ITINs can get the economic relief they deserve.”
Correa’s proposal boasts 50 co-sponsors, including three members of the far-left “Squad” — Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
Ocasio-Cortez has fiercely criticized the CARES Act for failing to include those with ITINs among recipients of the forthcoming relief checks.
“To clarify, $1200 checks are ONLY going to some w/social sec numbers, NOT immigrants w/ tax IDs (ITINs),” the New York congresswoman said on Twitter. “Thanks to GOP, these checks will be cut off the backs of *taxpaying immigrants,* who get nothing. Many are essential workers who pay more taxes than Amazon.”
The CARES Act will set taxpayers back $6 trillion ($2 trillion from Congress and $4 trillion in Federal Reserve lending power) — an amount equal to roughly 28 percent of the country’s $21.44 trillion GDP in 2019, making it the biggest stimulus in U.S. history.
While Democrats gripe about insufficient government assistance for illegal aliens, the White House has used the opportunity presented by the COVID-19 panic to crack down on immigration.
After closing both the northern and southern borders to everything but commerce-related travel, the Trump administration suspended the issuance of H-2B seasonal guest-worker visas, halting an increase that had been authorized by DHS earlier this year.
Meanwhile, migrants caught at the border are being returned to their home countries rather than detained in the U.S. interior, while hearings for asylum applicants have been postponed.
These policies have angered some Democrats, many of whom penned a letter to DHS demanding that the agency resume the admission of unaccompanied illegal-alien minors.
“DHS has the ability and capacity to protect both these children and the public. We request that DHS stop this practice immediately,” the Democrats’ letter stated.
While Democrats have decried what they perceive as racist policies amid the coronavirus outbreak, it was their fixation with racial identity politics that allowed the virus to spread in places such as New York.
As recently as early last month, New York officials were telling residents that fears about the virus were merely the product of racially driven paranoia. New York City Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot even encouraged New Yorkers to attend the large Chinese Lunar New Year parade as a way of combatting anti-Chinese xenophobia.
“As we gear up to celebrate the #LunarNewYear in NYC, I want to assure New Yorkers that there is no reason for anyone to change their holiday plans, avoid the subway, or certain parts of the city because of #coronavirus,” Barbot tweeted on February 2.
When New York’s first coronavirus case arose, Bartbot said, “New Yorkers remain at low risk for contracting COVID-19. As we confront this emerging outbreak, we need to separate facts from fear, and guard against stigma and panic.”
Luis Miguel is a marketer and writer whose journalistic endeavors shed light on the Deep State, the immigration crisis, and the enemies of freedom. Follow his exploits on Facebook, Twitter, Bitchute, and at luisantoniomiguel.com.
