Twenty-six million Americans have lost their jobs in the last five weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Small businesses are struggling to maintain operations. There is a sense of uncertainty about what will happen if the pandemic sticks around and the aftershocks it will leave on our economy. Yet despite these very serious concerns, many mainstream media outlets still continue to focus on the plight of illegal aliens rather than American citizens.
In recent weeks, The Boston Globe and the Associated Press have both been guilty of misplaced priorities by complaining that the federal government is not also providing illegal aliens with $1,200 stimulus checks. The Texas Tribune can now be added to this list. On the same day that the federal government revealed that 22 million Americans had lost their jobs in a single month, the news organization published an article claiming that illegal aliens make up 8 percent of the Texas workforce and often pay their taxes. And as a result, the author makes the argument that they also deserve a stimulus check.
As FAIR mentioned in a previous blog, stating that illegal aliens contribute to the economy by paying taxes is one of the most misleading arguments that the open-border lobby – or the open-borders media in this case – can make. Because, even with taxes paid taken into consideration, they still cost American taxpayers a net $132 billion annually in health care, education, and the already existing forms of welfare and subsidies that they receive. In Texas alone, illegal aliens and their children cost taxpayers nearly $11 billion annually. They are knowingly breaking the law by remaining in the country and are receiving billions of dollars in benefits as a result. Providing them with stimulus checks would just further reward lawless behavior to an even greater extent.
In addition, more than one million people have applied for unemployment in Texas since the COVID-19 pandemic began. If illegal aliens are 8 percent of the workforce in the state with some still continuing to work throughout this pandemic as the article suggests, then these are jobs that should belong to lawful residents of the Lone Star State. Not only should stimulus checks only go to Americans and law-abiding residents, but the jobs held by illegal aliens should also go to Americans who are struggling to make ends meet – especially as the COVID-19 crisis ravages the economy.
These are trying times for everyone, and there is only a finite amount of money available to assist those who have been harmed by the crisis. It is hard to justify providing financial assistance to illegal aliens when businesses are closing down and millions of Americans are struggling to provide for their own families. Those in the mainstream media – including The Texas Tribune – need to get their priorities straight. In a time of crisis, Americans come first. We shouldn’t reward lawless behavior when our own citizens are at risk of losing their livelihoods.
