Marco Rubio Steers Coronavirus Checks to American Families with Illegal Aliens

The 2021 omnibus bill sends coronavirus aid checks to “mixed-status” families that include illegal migrant spouses and Americans.

The expansion was pushed by Democrats and some GOP legislators, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC). CBS reported:

Under the agreement, U.S. citizens and green card holders will be able to receive $600 in direct aid, even if they filed a joint tax return with an undocumented spouse, as well as additional $600 checks per dependent child, according to congressional aides and the text of the legislation.

The new compromise would also retroactively make mixed-status families eligible for the $1,200 per household and $500 per child checks allocated by the CARES Act, which was enacted in late March.

“No American should have been blocked from receiving federal assistance during a global pandemic because of who they married,” Rubio said in a statement. “I thank Senator Tillis and my other Senate colleagues for their leadership in getting this across the finish line.”

The Migration Policy Institute estimates the Rubio measure will provide aid checks to families with a total of roughly 3.7 million U.S.-born children and 1.4 million U.S. spouses. Roughly one-third live in California, one-sixth live in Texas, and one-thirteenth live in New York.

The funding was blocked in prior emergency bills because the family aid will be quietly shared with roughly nine million additional illegal aliens in the mixed-status families.

So the Rubio amendment marks another blurring of the distinction between Americans and foreigners that are so valuable to ordinary Americans but are increasingly disdained by progressives and wealthy Americans.

The 2021 spending bill includes few steps to help protect that distinction. For example, it also cuts funding for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and many other protections against the foreign economic migrants who drive Americans’ wages down and push Americans’ rents up.

The spending measure is also backed by business groups, in part, because the aid checks will help pay for groceries, rents, and other expenses.