Report: Washington State directed $340M in COVID-19 relief funds to ILLEGALS

02/07/2024 / By Richard Brown

A report has revealed that Washington state directed $340 million in Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) relief funds to illegal aliens, mainly through $1,000 checks.

The Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) exposed this scheme in a report, pointing to the COVID-19 State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF). The fund, created by the American Rescue Plan Act, sought to help state and local governments with their response and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Fox News, the Evergreen State received $4.4 billion in overall funding from the SLFRF.

The EPIC report also mentioned that the Washington COVID-19 Immigrant Relief Fund (WCIRF), which was first established in 2020, was used as a conduit to distribute additional COVID-19 funds amounting to $340 million to illegals. The latter were deemed ineligible for government assistance due to being in the country unlawfully to begin with. This $340 million earmarked for illegals was approved by the Washington State Legislature in April 2021.

Moreover, the report said the WCIRF was administered as a “cash transfer” expenditure under the federal SLFRF. This, it added, positions the state-level fund as a form of indirect federal support for illegal immigration under the guise of pandemic relief.

Documents from the Department of the Treasury revealed that the Washington state government employed these funds to provide one-time cash grants, with 10 percent of the allocation directed to community-based organizations for the administration of the relief program. The WCIRF, which gave out this payment in the form of $1,000 checks to illegals, has now ended – with the last payments going out in early 2023.

According to Fox News, the program draws parallels to an earlier endeavor in the Evergreen State during the last months of the Trump administration. In this prior initiative, $128 million was earmarked and distributed to 122,000 illegals in the form of $1,000 checks.

Biden admin supporting illegals through pandemic relief payouts

While state officials argued that the initial investment of $128 million from the Trump-era Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was insufficient to meet the demand for economic relief, critics – including EPIC – question the channeling of substantial sums toward illegals.

“This means the Biden administration directly subsidized ‘undocumented’ immigration under the guise of COVID-19 relief,” EPIC said in its report. It also highlighted several other projects related to illegals that used federal funds. Such projects include programs in Arizona for art, music and dance classes for migrants and and expansion of shelters in Massachusetts. (Report: ABSURD: Biden administration asks for $3.3B to fund more housing for illegal migrants.)

Paul Winfree, CEO and president of EPIC, commented on the report and drew attention to its broader policy implications,

“The Senate is releasing a budget supplemental that includes a bipartisan deal on the border. However, the administration has been actively encouraging illegal immigration by using COVID-19 money from the SLFRF to provide cash assistance, housing, legal aid, and other benefits to [illegal aliens],” he told Fox News.

Winfree emphasized that the remaining $120 billion in unspent funds from the SLFRF could continue to attract illegal immigration, unless Congress takes steps to reclaim the money. “Until Congress claws back this money, it will continue to serve as a magnet for illegal immigration,” he said.

The report comes at a time when concerns about the influx of illegal immigrants into the U.S. persist. With ongoing negotiations for a supplemental funding bill in Congress, Republicans seek to include restrictions on asylum and the administration’s use of parole.

Watch Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) insist that Americans are not ATMs for illegals below.

This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.