This Issue: Facing a gov't shutdown, Congress continues to spar over stimulus checks for illegal aliens

Congress continues to haggle over a massive spending bill to fund the federal government and a separate Covid relief bill. One of the points of contention -- whether illegal aliens will receive taxpayer-funded stimulus checks.

Federal funding expires tonight at midnight.

On the issue of stimulus, Democrats are pushing to issue checks to anyone who filed a tax return in 2019, regardless of immigration status. That means that illegal aliens who filed a return using an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) instead of a Social Security number would receive a check. This is the same population that was covered under the House-passed Heroes Act.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to hold a floor vote on the Hereos Act amid objections from most Senate Republicans. Part of the objection was the stimulus checks for illegal aliens.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is pushing for a compromise that would allow mixed families with at least one U.S. citizen to receive stimulus checks.

The first round of checks issued earlier this year under the CARES Act were limited to U.S. citizens and permanent legal residents.

Please visit your Action Board for actions urging your three Members of Congress to oppose stimulus checks for illegal aliens and other bad immigration provisions in the omnibus spending bill.

The New Year

The news in 2020 was dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the presidential election. Still, there was quite a bit of immigration-related news as the nation considered the impact of mass immigration during a national health pandemic.

Polls showed that a majority of Americans supported Pres. Trump's decision over the summer to temporarily pause the admission of most new immigrants and guest workers. The President also restricted travel across the borders and directed the Border Patrol to swiftly return most illegal border crossers to their home countries.

But there will be big changes after the new year. President-elect Joe Biden is expected to terminate all of Pres. Trump's immigration restrictions and to deliver a mass amnesty proposal to Congress within his first 100 days.

Instead of urging the Trump Administration to do more to protect American workers from the importation of foreign workers, we expect the fight to be against the expansion of an already massive immigration system.

NumbersUSA will be ready to hit the ground running in 2021, but until then, we wish all of you a safe, healthy, and happy holiday season!

Chris Chmielenski NumbersUSA Deputy Director