In a 14-6 vote, the Madison City Council in Wisconsin authorized $700,000 in federal relief funds to aid illegal aliens. According to The Wisconsin State Journal, the endowment will be distributed in the form of one-time grants between eight mass immigration organizations to provide financial assistance to immigration lawbreakers with food, rent, internet access, transportation, and attorney fees.
The decision to allocate taxpayer money to these groups comes on the heels of Madison City Council members bemoaning illegal aliens’ ineligibility to receive stimulus checks during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, while not every council member agreed on the allotment of monies to each organization, there was unanimity on providing subsidies to unlawful migrants in Madison.
Unsurprisingly, some stauncher pro-illegal alien council members found the $700,000 amount insufficient. Council Vice President Arvina Martin said of the recent funds, “We thought that the biggest impact we could make with this way too small amount of money was what we proposed.”
Rather than using federal taxpayer dollars on this misguided scheme, the city council should be using this capital to help overlooked U.S. citizens. For example, Madison has a homelessness rate of 11.4 per 10,000 people. This is higher than Wisconsin’s overall rate of 8 homeless per 10,000 people, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Shouldn’t helping destitute Americans be more pressing than paying the costs of unlawful migrants?
Another initiative the City Council could pursue is improving public safety for its constituency. Last year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation found Madison to be one of the most dangerous cities in the state, ranking 8th in the state for violent crime. Properly funding local law enforcement to enhance public order should be a common-sense proposal pursued by any legislative body instead of catering to immigration lawbreakers.
Unfortunately, Madison isn’t the only jurisdiction on track to provide taxpayer funds to illegal aliens. Earlier this month, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) announced a whopping $53 million for another round of stimulus checks in his state budget proposal for unlawful migrants across the state. The proposed sum will be doled out in a one-time $500 payment to qualifying aliens.
The priorities of these elected officials are completely misplaced. There are countless underserved Americans who should be prioritized over those who have no legal right to be in the U.S. Congress should ensure state and local governments are not funneling federal tax dollars to mass migration groups who intend to use these monies for people who have violated federal immigration law.