MARCO RUBIO TRIES TO GIVE STIMULUS CHECKS TO ILLEGAL ALIEN HOUSEHOLDS~GOP SHUTS HIM DOWN
BY LUIS MIGUEL
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:
An attempt by U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to provide the spouses of illegal aliens with retroactive and future coronavirus stimulus payments was rejected by Senate Republicans in the latest relief package currently being prepared.
The provision proposed by Rubio, along with fellow Republican senators Thom Thillis (N.C.) and Bill Cassidy (La.), would have given a retroactive Economic Impact Payment of $1,200 to American citizen adults who did not receive one because they are married to noncitizens without Social Security numbers and also failed to have tax information on file themselves.
The checks sent out to Americans earlier this year were distributed largely based on tax information. As the IRS website states, “The payments, also referred to by some as stimulus payments, are automatic for most taxpayers. No further action is needed by taxpayers who filed tax returns in 2018 and 2019 and most seniors and retirees.”
Thus, while the common narrative from the Left has been that citizens married to noncitizens without Social Security numbers (which often means illegal aliens, since legal permanent residents are issued Social Security numbers) are getting shortchanged, that description fails to tell the full story.
Spouses of illegal aliens still receive their stimulus payments under the current system so long as they did their taxes in 2018 and 2019. The ones who aren’t getting a stimulus check are the households in which the breadwinner is the illegal alien. In such cases, the argument can be made that that breadwinner doesn’t pay taxes and shouldn’t even be in the country to begin with, so they shouldn’t receive a taxpayer-funded stimulus check.
Nevertheless, even spouses of illegal aliens who were non-filers have the opportunity to receive a stimulus payment. The relevant section of the IRS website reads: “Non-Filers: Enter Payment Info Here is a free IRS tool that allows you to easily and quickly provide us the necessary 2019 information about yourself and any eligible spouse or qualifying children (Children under the age of 17 at the end of 2019).
“We will use this information to determine your eligibility and payment amount and send you an Economic Impact Payment. After providing this information, you won’t need to take any additional action.”
The guidelines then state that “U.S. citizens, permanent residents and qualifying resident aliens” are eligible for a check so long as they “have a valid social security number,” are “not be claimed as a dependent of another taxpayer,” and “had adjusted gross income under certain limits.”
In fact, the rules are so permissive that you don’t even have to be a citizen to get a payment; you can be a legal resident or “qualifying” resident alien. It’s illegal aliens who are barred from benefiting from the program, which any reasonable person would agree with.
Moreover, a person does not have to have filed taxes to collect the money — it just takes a few extra steps of paperwork. The migration lobby may argue that residents and citizens married to illegal aliens are losing out on an extra $1,200 for their husband or wife because they can’t claim their spouse. But again, it comes down to the fact that their spouse should not be here in the first place.
In conclusion, the claim from Democrats and liberal Republicans that the spouses of immigrants aren’t receiving stimulus checks is categorically false and only happens if a citizen or resident in that situation did not pay taxes in 2018 and 2019 and failed to fill out the non-filers application.
If Rubio had his way, however, he would have sent $1,200 checks to the two million Americans married to unqualifying foreign nationals and illegal aliens. This would not only include retroactive payments, but future ones as well. This comes as Congress is in the middle of negotiation for another round of stimulus.
Rubio, an infamous member of the “Gang of Eight” senators working to bring amnesty, is known for his globalist stances on immigration. Far from being “fair,” his provision would have been grossly unfair to both tax-paying American citizens and tax-paying legal permanent residents who came into the country by the proper legal channels.
Ultimately, this was one of the rare occasions in which Republican leadership actually stuck to its guns and rejected liberalism masquerading as “reaching across the aisle.”