January 13, 2021

Dear John xxxxxx,

The budget package passed by Congress in December rectified an oversight from the earlier CARES Act: Making U.S. citizens and legal immigrants in mixed-status families eligible for COVID-19-relief payments. 

In a new commentary, Migration Policy Institute (MPI) researchers estimate that nearly 3 million U.S.-citizen and legal-immigrant adults and children with an unauthorized immigrant spouse or parent are eligible for stimulus of up to $600 under the December legislation, as well as retroactive CARES Act payments of up to $1,200 per person. 

With the incoming Biden administration and Congress likely poised to consider increasing the $600 checks, perhaps to as much as $2,000, the MPI data showing affected populations at U.S. and state levels could be a useful resource. The researchers note some populations remain uncovered, including 2.2 million U.S.-citizen and legal-immigrant children whose parents are both unauthorized immigrants. 

“Recent extensions of aid to U.S. citizens and legal immigrants in mixed-status families enjoyed bipartisan support,” write authors Julia Gelatt, Randy Capps, and Michael Fix. “ Further expansions of assistance would account for a small fraction of the total cost of any future stimulus package and would accrue major benefits to millions of U.S.-citizen children and—through family spending on essential needs—the communities in which they live.”

You can read the commentary here: www.migrationpolicy.org/news/cares-act-excluded-citizens-immigrants-now-covered.

With best regards,

Michelle Mittelstadt
Director of Communications and Public Affairs
Migration Policy Institute

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