Washington State paid out $340 MILLION in Covid relief to ineligible illegal immigrants

The report from Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) points to cash that flowed from the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF), which received $4.4 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act, and ended up being sent to a program that would send checks of $1,000 to illegal immigrant in the state. The total chunk carved out for the foreign nationals was $340 million.

The funding was approved by state lawmakers in 2021 and provided "another round of funding for undocumented Washingtonians," according to a report on the program.

It states, "As in past rounds, this iteration of the Immigrant Relief Fund required targeted community engagement, communications development efforts, and trusted messengers to encourage eligible community members to apply."

The report from EPIC clarifies how the $340 million ended up being funneled to the program for illegal immigrants in the state. "The $340 million project is categorized as a ‘cash transfer’ expenditure under the SLFRF, approved for the State of Washington. This means the Biden Administration directly subsidized ‘undocumented’ immigration under the guise of COVID-19 pandemic relief," the EPIC report adds.

Paul Winfree, the CEO of EPIC, commented on the report to Fox Digital, saying, "The Senate is releasing a budget supplemental that includes a bipartisan deal on the border. However, the administration has been actively encouraging illegal immigration by using COVID money from the SLFRF to provide cash assistance, housing, legal aid, and other benefits to undocumented immigrants."

He added that there is still $120 million not spent from the fund. "Until Congress claws back this money, it will continue to serve as a magnet for illegal immigration," he added.

State lawmakers have also had a history of spending the funds on non-citizens in other ways as well.

In 2020, the state had a skyrocketing number of over 1 million unemployment claims. Later, at least $100 million of COVID aid went to waste in a Nigerian scam.

Unemployment claims in the state were far ahead of any other state, according to data at the time.