Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is very upset that noncitizens won't be receiving $1,200 checks in the $2 trillion emergency relief bill unanimously passed by the Senate Wednesday night.
To clarify, $1200 checks are ONLY going to some w/social sec numbers, NOT immigrants w/ tax IDs (ITINs).
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 26, 2020
Thanks to GOP, these checks will be cut off the backs of *taxpaying immigrants,* who get nothing. Many are essential workers who pay more taxes than Amazon.
Wall St gets $4T
The law requires authorized workers who are noncitizens to have a social security number in order to legally work in the United States. It's also illegal for noncitizens to steal someone else's social security number in order to get a job, though many noncitizens do just that.
The Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) was created in 1996 in part to capture taxable income from people illegally working in the U.S. When ITIN workers file tax returns, which they're required to do, many claim credits like the Child Tax Credit, Additional Child Tax Credit, Child and Dependent Care Credit, and the American Opportunity Credit. State and local governments also spend billions every year providing services for illegal immigrants, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform. That's hardly "nothing," as the congresswoman suggests.
If a non-citizen wasn't working in the U.S., why would such a person need a relief check anyway, and why would it be the U.S. government's responsibility to give money to such an individual? Such individuals should ask their own countries for relief.
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