Chicago Mayor Signs Executive Order to Ensure Illegal Immigrants Have Access to COVID-19 Relief Programs
Source: Santiago Covarrubias/Sun Times via AP
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) announced on Tuesday she signed an executive order that will allow illegal immigrants to access some of the benefits citizens are receiving through the Wuhan coronavirus relief stimulus package.
"When it comes to COVID-19, we are all in this together and we are leaving no one behind. That's why Chicago is doing everything it can to support all of our residents during this crisis, including our immigrant and refugee communities," Lightfoot said in a video posted to Twitter.
Some of the programs being made available includes a housing assistance grant, an Online Enrichment Learning Resources through Chicago Public Schools for students at all levels, and a $100 million Chicago Small Business Resiliency Fund to provide small businesses with disaster relief cash flow during the pandemic pandemic, which is available to any entrepreneur, including immigrant business owners.
"This order is more than just an official decree, it is a statement of our values as a city and as Americans,” said Lightfoot. "Since COVID-19 first reached our city’s doorstep, we have been working around the clock to ensure all our residents are secure and supported, including our immigrant and refugee communities, who are among the most vulnerable to the impact of this pandemic."
Earlier this morning, I signed an executive order that ensures our immigrant & refugee communities have equal access to all COVID-related benefits offered by the City.
Saying “we are all in this together” means no one gets left out and no one gets left behind.
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"Not all of Chicago's residents qualify for federal stimulus checks, state unemployment insurance or other economic assistance due to their documentation status,” 22nd Ward Alderman Michael D. Rodriguez said. "These Chicagoans are vital community members who work in various industries and help our great city to thrive every day. These Chicagoans are our family members, co-workers, neighbors and friends. I applaud the Mayor for standing with undocumented individuals and families to ensure their eligibility for any economic assistance offered by the City of Chicago during this global pandemic."
Democrats at the national level have been calling for undocumented immigrants to receive the same benefits citizens are getting in the relief package.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) told Univision because many undocumented workers are still going outside to work in essential businesses and are risking exposure to the coronavirus, they must also get taxpayer dollars.
Illegal immigrants cost taxpayers $6.5K a
year each: Report
VIDEO:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/report-illegal-immigrants-cost-taxpayers-6-500-a-year-each?utm_source=Washington%20Secrets_02/06/2020&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WEX_Washington%20Secrets&rid=117930
Report: Taxpayers
Forking Over Up to $6,500 per Illegal Alien
THEY ASSAULT OUR
BORDERS, JOBS, WELFARE LINES AND INSTITUTIONS.
He added, “Illegal
immigration, in particular, drives down wages and inhibits job opportunities
for legal residents, while bringing more low-skilled, low-wage workers to these
states. In turn, this increases costs to state and local governments, and
discourages investment by businesses seeking a skilled labor force and lower
overhead.” PAUL BEDARD
Illegal immigrants cost taxpayers $6.5K a
year each: Report
VIDEO:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/report-illegal-immigrants-cost-taxpayers-6-500-a-year-each?utm_source=Washington%20Secrets_02/06/2020&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WEX_Washington%20Secrets&rid=117930
Illegal immigrants in
growing numbers are flooding into so-called sanctuary cities and states where
they are consuming up to $6,500 in taxpayer-funded services, according to a new
review of costs in 10 small states.
The surge is having an
outsized effect on smaller states and is cutting funds for services to
veterans, children, and disabled Americans, according to the report provided
exclusively to Secrets from the Federation
for American Immigration Reform.
The report said illegal
immigration costs the 10 states $454 million. “To put that figure into context,
that $454 million expenditure is more than 200 times what the state of Montana
budgets for its entire Veterans Affairs program, and it is 2.5 times the total
sum that West Virginia invests in its state university,” said the report.
And, it added, illegal
immigrants cost between $4,000 and $6,500 annually above any tax benefit they
provide.
“In many ways, the
influx of immigrants into less populous areas of the country has an even
greater impact on long-time residents than it does in larger and more urban
areas,” said Dan Stein, president of FAIR. “These areas have neither the tax
base, nor the economic and social infrastructure to accommodate the needs of
the growing numbers of immigrants taking up residence.”
The 10 states analyzed
in the study, Small
Migrant Populations, Huge Impacts, were New Hampshire,
Mississippi, Alaska, Maine, North Dakota, West Virginia, South Dakota, Vermont,
Montana, and Wyoming.
“Many local officials
tout immigration, including illegal immigration, as a remedy to economic
stagnation. However, as this report reveals, the reality is precisely the
opposite,” said Stein.
He added, “Illegal
immigration, in particular, drives down wages and inhibits job opportunities
for legal residents, while bringing more low-skilled, low-wage workers to these
states. In turn, this increases costs to state and local governments, and
discourages investment by businesses seeking a skilled labor force and lower
overhead.”
The report comes on the
heels of a key U.S. Supreme Court decision to let the Trump administration
block entry to immigrants who are likely to burden taxpayers.
FAIR’s report also
showed that sanctuary cities are a growing attraction for illegal immigrants,
especially in smaller states where the costs of living can be lower.
The key findings from
the report to Secrets:
- In each
of these states, each illegal immigrant resident carried a net tax deficit
of between $4,000 and $6,500 annually.
- Some
415,000 foreign-born reside in these 10 states, of whom about 88,000 (or
21%) are illegal immigrants. Additionally, there are about 35,000 U.S.-born
children of illegal immigrants in these states.
- Collectively,
these illegal immigrants and their U.S.-born children cost taxpayers in
the 10 states about $454 million each year for the provision of essential
services such as education and healthcare.
- Local
schools struggle to provide educators and cover the costs of instruction
for 50,000 K-12 students classified as Limited English Proficient.
- A
growing number of sanctuary jurisdictions (29 and counting, including the
entire state of Vermont), and lower living costs are a magnet for illegal
immigrants.
- The
growing immigrant population competes with legal residents for jobs in
economically depressed areas.
“This report highlights
the fact that the adverse effects of unchecked mass immigration, combined with
an immigration selection process that does not choose people based on
individual merit, job skills and education, are now being felt in all parts of
the country. Americans, in every part of the nation, are being affected by
antiquated and unenforced immigration policies, which is why it is at the top
of the list of voter concerns heading into the 2020 elections,” said Stein.
Report: Taxpayers
Forking Over Up to $6,500 per Illegal Alien
By Rob
Shimshock | February 6, 2020 | 12:24pm EST
(CNSNews.com) -- Much of the
media attention garnered by the border crisis typically revolves around states
that border Mexico like Arizona and Texas. Yet a February report reveals the
devastating economic consequences of illegal aliens on taxpayers as far north
as Montana.
Illegal aliens cost taxpayers in the ten states with the fewest
immigrants around $454 million per year, which works out to a net tax deficit
of $4,000 to $6,500 per illegal, according to a report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).
“In many ways, the influx of immigrants into less populous areas
of the country has an even greater impact on long-time residents than it does
in larger and more urban areas,” FAIR President Dan Stein said in the report's
news release. “These areas have neither the tax base, nor the economic and
social infrastructure to accommodate the needs of the growing numbers of
immigrants taking up residence.”
FAIR examined migration to Alaska, Maine, Mississippi, Montana,
New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming
in its study and found that 88,000 out of the 415,000 foreign-born residents in
these states are illegal aliens, or 21 percent. Around 35,000 others are
citizen children of illegal aliens.
“Many local officials tout immigration, including illegal
immigration, as a remedy to economic stagnation. However, as this report
reveals, the reality is precisely the opposite,” Stein continued. “Illegal
immigration, in particular, drives down wages and inhibits job opportunities
for legal residents, while bringing more low-skilled, low-wage workers to these
states. In turn, this increases costs to state and local governments, and
discourages investment by businesses seeking a skilled labor force and lower
overhead.”
FAIR notes that 29 sanctuary jurisdictions exist in these 10
states, including the whole state of Vermont.
The report also examined the financial implications of
immigrants more generally, noting that more than 50,000 K-12 students in the
ten states examined are categorized as having limited English proficiency
(LEP). FAIR estimated that taxpayers spend $96 million on the education of
these students.
Nationwide, the immigration nonprofit calculated that taxpayers
spent $59.8 billion educating LEP students in 2016, up from $51.2 billion in
2010.
Matt O’Brien, director of research at FAIR, expanded on the
impact of immigration on Lewiston, Maine, a city the nonprofit honed in on in
its analysis, while speaking with CNSNews.com.
Lewiston, which has a population under 40,000, has taken in more
than 7,500 migrants during the past decade-and-a-half. Between 2004 and 2017,
the percentage of LEP students in the town went from five to 30 percent.
“You’re putting all of the kids that have to go through that
school system at a deficit that they have to recover from after they get out of
the public school system," O’Brien told CNSNews.com. “Now they have to
compete with the massive amount of immigrants...as they’re trying to get entry-level
jobs.”
The FAIR report highlighted employers’ preference for hiring
foreign-born workers, who demand lower wages, over American citizens.
“This report highlights the fact that the adverse effects of
unchecked mass immigration, combined with an immigration selection process that
does not choose people based on individual merit, job skills and education, are
now being felt in all parts of the country. Americans, in every part of the
nation, are being affected by antiquated and unenforced immigration policies,
which is why it is at the top of the list of voter concerns heading into the
2020 elections,” Stein concluded in the release.
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