Nearly 200,000 eligible illegal aliens in New York could receive a one-time payment of $15,600 in taxpayer-funded benefits thanks to a budget deal approved by Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D).
This week, as Breitbart News reported, state Democrats and Cuomo struck a budget deal that shifts $2.1 billion in taxpayer-funded benefits to illegal aliens who lost their jobs during the Chinese coronavirus crisis. The aid to illegal aliens is $1.1 billion more than tax credits and grants authorized for small businesses in the state.
Estimates now suggest about 187,000 illegal aliens are eligible for the benefits and each could receive a one-time payment of $15,600 or about $300 a week for the entire year.
Law360 broke down the figures:
Jobless workers may qualify for the full $15,600 payment if they show that they have filed a tax return within the past 3 years with a valid taxpayer identification number. The “Tier 1” relief amounts to a year’s worth of $300 weekly unemployment benefits, one-third less than New York’s current unemployment benefits, according to State Senator Jessica Ramos, D-Queens.
Workers may also provide letters from their employer, paystubs and wage statements to try and access the Tier 1 payment. At a later point, the Commissioner of Labor will identify other forms of proof that workers may show to receive the full relief, according to the text of the bill.
The fund will also free up a $3,200 payment — an amount equaling the combined three federal stimulus payments — to jobless workers who can’t provide the documentation for the higher payment, but who can prove their identity and state residency.
Despite supporting the budget deal, Cuomo has admitted he is concerned about the potential for fraud when illegal aliens begin applying for the one-time payments.
“Cuomo says the [New York State] Comptroller will examine excluded workers fund before it goes online, as well as [Attorney General] Tish James, for potential fraud vulnerabilities,” Zach Williams with City & State NY reported.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said the benefits equate to taxpayer-funded subsidies for federal immigration violators:
Why are taxes high in New York?
So the government can pay illegal immigrants up to $15,600.
In New York, it pays to break the law. https://t.co/0BMLbxVQMm
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) April 8, 2021
Open borders activists had been lobbying state lawmakers for months to include taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal aliens in the budget. In one instance, illegal aliens eligible for the benefits went on a nearly month-long hunger strike, Breitbart News reported.
More than a million jobs have been lost in New York and an estimated 80,000 New York businesses may not make it to the end of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, mostly as a result of Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s (D) rigid economic lockdowns.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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