Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., told Newsmax TV on Friday that New York’s proposal of up to $15,600 in one-time payments going to undocumented immigrants who lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic is ''unacceptable.''
Smith told ''American Agenda'' that ''when the Biden bailout bill passed the Democrats at the darkest night of the hour, they changed the funding formula that rewarded all of their blue state governors. And by changing it from the prior five COVID packages, it gave a windfall to those blue states, the biggest one falling to California, the second largest went to the state of New York. And the windfall that the state of New York had was $2.1 billion of an increase on top of what they were all doing.''
Smith said, ''And then the state of New York just recently passed a $2.1 [billion] budget that sets aside money solely for illegal immigrants and giving them a $15,600 check. That's why we've asked the administration to look into this, because it's unacceptable. It's not just a coincidence that that $2.1 million increase that they got from the Biden bailout bill is also the same amount that they're using to give to illegal immigrants.''
The congressman added that his objection is ''all about the taxpayers. It's a simple process of what New York did, if you're not a citizen and you're an illegal immigrant you can get a $15,600 check. That is way more than what any U. S citizen has received during the devastation.
"The state of New York should be helping out all those small businesses that they've shut down; hundreds of thousands of small businesses will never reopen again because of these lockdown measures that the governor in New York put in, the governor of California and all these other governors. But instead they're rewarding these illegal immigrants that are living in the country. It's unacceptable.''
He added, when asked about a response to his letter, ''It's much like everything else with the Biden administration: we hear crickets. All that they care about is taking away our rights and liberties and continue to put control on U. S citizens and we've heard nothing. We followed up again and we're going to continue to follow up because the budget committee deserves answers. We deserve oversight, and we're not going to give in.''
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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