Why was $340 million in covid aid given to undocumented immigrants?

I was searching the internet and could not locate any news in previous issues of The Herald, but found thru a commentary from The Western Journal: that hundreds of millions of our tax dollars earmarked to help struggling Americans through the covid-19 pandemic were instead handed out to undocumented immigrants in Washington state.

The $340 million was taken out of the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund — a federal aid program — and given to immigrants in the form of $1,000 checks, according to a review of the spending by the Economic Policy Innovation Center.

Washington received $4.4 billion in total federal covid funding, but set aside the $340 million so that immigrants could dip their hands into the funds.

A report released by state officials last year noted that the cash transfer to the “Immigrant Relief Fund” was approved by the Washington state Legislature in April 2021 to provide “another round of funding for undocumented Washingtonians.”

The Democrat-dominated state Legislature did an end-run around the rules preventing immigrants from getting federal covid relief funds meant for actual Americans.

The transfer was also approved by the Biden administration. The project fund now is fully exhausted. I hope our government officials will think about taxpaying, legal citizens of Washington in need, or I hope our citizens will think about what government officials we don’t need.

Robert Sanders

Edmonds

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