It should come as no surprise to anyone that far-left Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are unhappy about the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill. And no, it’s not because they’re concerned about the U.S. spending too much taxpayer money at a time of uncertainty. Of course not. It’s because there’s one category of U.S. resident that isn’t going to get a share of the cash: Illegal aliens. And since the far left has made it clear that illegal immigrants are somehow more American than actual American citizens, this is naturally a situation that cannot stand.
“To clarify,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Thursday, “$1200 checks are ONLY going to some w/social sec numbers, NOT immigrants w/ tax IDs (ITINs). Thanks to GOP, these checks will be cut off the backs of *taxpaying immigrants,* who get nothing. Many are essential workers who pay more taxes than Amazon. Wall St gets $4T.”
AOC wasn’t the only one who thinks that it’s unfair that illegal immigrants will be cut out of the money.
“We must put meaningful resources into the pockets of those hardest hit by the coronavirus,” tweeted Re. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY). “Immigrant families must be included!”
“Any stimulus package passed that doesn’t support immigrants isn’t doing its job as a stimulus package,” wrote Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA).
And of course CNN naturally had to weigh in with their usual, cough-cough, objectivity:
Unauthorized workers make up about 5% of the US labor force – around 7.6 million people, according to the latest estimates from the Pew Research Center.
Advocates argue the coronavirus crisis that’s devastated global markets, overwhelmed hospitals and left millions without jobs is having an outsized impact on undocumented workers. Many had service-sector jobs that were decimated by the pandemic. Those who remain employed largely don’t have the option of working from home, and are risking their safety to keep supply chains going.
While we don’t share this bleeding-heart mentality about the rights of illegal aliens, there is a small kernel of an actual problem here. Namely, if the point of boosted unemployment benefits and stimulus checks is to keep sick people home, then obviously we’re taking a risk if we don’t provide them to everyone. It’s one thing to say illegal aliens don’t have a right to this money – a suggestion we would agree with. It’s another to shoot ourselves in the foot and let the coronavirus spread faster and longer than necessary because we don’t want to give out the checks to illegals. It’s a tough situation that may deserve some additional attention.
Of course, if we’d had a government for the last twenty years that was even halfway serious about keeping these people out of the U.S., we wouldn’t be stuck in this scenario in the first place. That’s one of many issues we’re going to have to confront once this is all over.
Comments are closed.