(Headline USA) New York state legislators and embattled New York Governor Andrew Cuomo are hammering out a multi-billion dollar deal for illegal immigrants and former convicts that could give some individuals as much as $28,000.
The New York Post reports that the “Excluded Worker Fund” would cost $2.1 billion and be specifically designed for illegal immigrants and former convicts because they could not receive federal stimulus checks or unemployment payments. New York legislators are already planning a series of tax increases to fund their agenda.
Some who are pushing for the proposal want the state to shell out $3.5 billion for the plan.
Local Pix11 News in New York reports that about 200 people gathered outside Cuomo’s office on Easter Sunday to demand the $3.5 billion.
“On a hunger strike for 20 days, just water and liquids,” said Juan Carlos Ruiz, Pastor of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, at the protest. “They’ve been demanding the fund be created by taxing the wealthy, who have become wealthier throughout the pandemic.”
“Many of their families have been fairing badly, given there is no other source of employment or aid coming from the city, state or federally,” he added.
The Fund Excluded Workers Coalition has organized outreach to state legislators, protests and a petition for their cause.
“New York State must provide emergency income support to New Yorkers excluded from unemployment benefits,” the group says on its website. “Tell Speaker Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins that we must tax the rich to create an Excluded Worker Fund to provide direct income support, equivalent to unemployment benefits, for undocumented New Yorkers, people recently released from incarceration or detention, and other excluded workers.”
New York State Senator Daphne Jordan blasted the deal as “outrageous.”
“The misguided measure also would provide tax dollars to persons who have not even paid into the system,” she said. “This outrageous scheme is the latest in a long line of state government’s misplaced priorities. Every hard-working taxpayer should know about this foolish plan to send billions of their tax dollars to illegal immigrants and convicted felons – and hike taxes in the forthcoming State Budget to pay for it all.”
Cuomo’s plan comes on the heels of a slew of scandals. Several leading Democrats have called for the governor’s resignation after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.
Then, Cuomo came under fire for reports that he used aides to help with a $4 million book deal painting him as a hero in the fight against the pandemic, even as he fought to cover up the nursing home death toll in his state.
Critics blamed Cuomo’s administration for their policy of sending infected elderly patients back into nursing homes where they then spread the coronavirus, leading to more deaths.
Now, Cuomo’s plan to fund payouts for illegal immigrants is leading to even more controversy.
“This $2.1 billion could have been used to pay down the state debt or shore-up the state’s Unemployment Insurance Fund,” Jordan added. “Only in Albany’s ‘Bizzaro World’ and one-party Democratic rule is this ridiculous scheme even possible.”
