After months of pressure from left-leaning activists, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has agreed to set aside $40 million in coronavirus relief for illegal immigrants.
The Washington Worker Relief Fund, passed in May, would provide economic assistance to undocumented Washingtonians who didn’t quality for the federal government’s coronavirus stimulus.
Activists originally asked for $100 million, but have settled at $40 million to be distributed to immigrant families and individuals this fall with an estimated $3,000 per household and $1,000 per person. Washington has about 240,000 illegal residents who reportedly pay around $368 million in state and local taxes each year.
Washington is among one of the many states developing relief funds for their undocumented residents. California and Oregon have also followed the same for aiding illegal immigrants. In May, the Seattle City Council voted in favor of requesting emergency economic assistance for illegal immigrants through the “Washington Worker Relief Fund,” which would allocate money to those who lost their jobs because of the pandemic.
Many media outlets have complained with California’s notion to provide $25 million in aid, as California has five times the population of Washington and there are at least 2 million illegal aliens. The funds would only help only up to 150,000 illegals with emergency relief.
A Democrat-driven bill was also passed by the House in Washington D.C last week that would include illegal immigrants in the next round of stimulus checks to most Americans. They would allow the use of Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers to receive the checks, allowing each eligible person a $1,200 stimulus check and up to $6,000 per household.
In Washington D.C., the CARES act would allow individual illegal immigrants who submit an application to receive up to $1,000 if approved, and families up to $3,000.
The Washington Economic and Revenue Forecast Council predicted that their budget would fall short by $4.5 billion, leading the 2021-2023 budget to have a $4.3 billion budget deficit. This would not rule out new taxes and budget cuts, meaning the cuts would result in huge damage.
State Rep. Frank Chopp has proposed creating a capital gains tax and a tax on businesses. These small businesses have already suffered enough in an economy trying to recover. The Dems have lost that control and are trying to gain it back by spending more money and keeping more people trapped at home.
Republican Sen. John Braun, on the other hand, said that the budget can be balanced without new taxes. ”I don’t buy the idea that we need to go take additional revenue from a business sector in the economy that, frankly, is pretty fragile right now,” said Braun. He is calling to make cuts in state spending immediately.
Washington is really digging themselves into a hole for people who aren’t even here legally. It’s a wonder who is fighting for the middle class citizens just trying to grow their businesses and live the American dream. The left will stop at nothing to keep that from happening.
