Illegal aliens residing in one of the most conservative states in the country could soon be receiving $500 checks if a local judge gets her way.
The idea for a universal basic income for illegal aliens was floated by Harris County Judge Linda Hidalgo earlier this month. Hidalgo’s suggestion comes on the heels of the county’s approval of a proposal that would give $500 a month for the next 18 months to families living below the poverty line. Hidalgo signaled that she would interpret the program to include illegal aliens.
“Can the undocumented community apply? If the county attorney says they can, they will. If the county attorney says they can’t, they won’t. What I was told is they can," the judge said.
This is yet another example of how illegal immigration strains social services at taxpayer expense. Regardless of what one believes about the merits of a universal basic income program, the policy is designed to help poor American citizens, not foreign nationals unlawfully present here. Given how many illegal aliens reside in Texas, impoverished residents of the Lone Star State could see their checks delayed or denied to make room for the large number of illegal aliens who will surely apply for the program. The fact that this could happen in Texas of all states is striking.
Texas has born the brunt of Joe Biden’s border crisis, as thousands of illegal aliens have poured into the southern part of the state nearly every day for the past two years. Governor Greg Abbott, has been fighting back against this incursion on his state’s sovereignty in a variety of ways, including turning away illegal aliens attempting to cross the border as part of the Operation Lone Star mission.
Texas has also set out to expose the hypocrisy of anti-borders sanctuary cities, including Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C., by bussing illegal aliens into those cities. The state’s bussing program has forced these cities to bear part of the costs and burdens of illegal immigration, and has proven once and for all that illegal immigration does not strengthen American communities, but instead weakens them.
All of this progress, however, threatens to be undermined if activist judges and left-wing city leaders within the state begin handing out money to illegal aliens. This plan, if adopted, would make Texas even more of a magnet for illegal aliens than it is now, and prove disastrous for border communities already struggling to overcome the effects of the crisis.
Unfortunately, U.S. taxpayers being forced to foot the bill for illegal immigration is nothing new. A study released earlier this year by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) found that illegal immigration now costs taxpayers more than $150 billion a year, a roughly 30 percent increase since 2017. The Biden Administration has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to non-governmental organizations with the purpose of resettling as many illegal aliens as possible into the country.
The Immigration Reform Law Institute also discovered that over $66 million in taxpayer funds have gone to providing illegal aliens with free lawyers, even though the vast majority of these aliens do not have legitimate asylum claims. Indigent plaintiffs in civil trials, such as those in immigration court, are not entitled to legal representation from the government.
The idea of handing out checks to illegal aliens is also not novel, as California recently passed legislation that would give illegal aliens access to $300 weekly unemployment checks. The possibility that something similar could happen in Texas demonstrates the vast influence of the anti-borders movement.
American taxpayers have a reasonable expectation as part of the social contract that their money will go to services that benefit them, not foreign nationals who break our laws and enter our country illegally. The normalization of giving taxpayer funds to illegal aliens, even in red states, is further evidence of a complete breakdown of the rule of law when it comes to America’s immigration system.
William Davis is a communications associate at the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a public interest law firm working to defend the rights and interests of the American people from the negative effects of mass migration.