Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo’s handling of the COVID pandemic has been quite controversial and it appears he’s not done yet. In a ridiculous new move, the state of New York is creating a COVID relief fund that would give illegal aliens and ex-convicts checks totaling more than $20,000 each.
The Excluded Workers Fund would offer direct payments to illegal aliens who are ineligible for federal assistance, and individuals who have been released from incarceration since October 2019 and did not qualify for relief opportunities amid the pandemic.
According to POLITICO, recipients would receive $600 for each week they were unemployed from March 27 through July 31, 2020, and $300 for each week from Aug. 1, 2020 through Sept. 6, 2021.
For eligible recipients who have been unemployed through the duration of the pandemic, the result is an immediate payment of $20,700 with possible subsequent payments of up to $6,600, making the total for some qualifying recipients over $27,000.
Currently, state Democrats are hammering out the final details such as eligibility requirements and proof of eligibility.
As always, the fiscal burden of this proposal falls on the American taxpayer. Illegal aliens already impose a net fiscal burden of at least $133.7 billion a year. The average annual tax deficit per illegal alien is $9,221. According to a FAIR estimate, our illegal alien population was 14.5 million at the end of 2020. With the massive waves of illegal aliens crossing our border and no enforcement in sight, that number continues to grow at rates never seen before.
Programs like the one being put forth by New York only increases the deficit and encourages more illegal immigration by rewarding criminal actions. And especially during a time when so many Americans are still out of work, adding an additional tax burden of this magnitude is egregious.