Trump bans “stimulus checks” for immigrants

Since the country entered into an economic crisis due to the arrival of the Coronavirus, the current government of the US decided to use stimulus checks to alleviate unemployment and boost the continuous flow of the economy.

Basically, these checks are tax refunds to citizens and legal residents who pay them annually. The last time the country had to use this monetary aid was in 2008 during the great recession.

That means that the financial crisis we are going through is one of the most forceful in the recent history of humanity.

However, President Trump prohibited the delivery of these checks in several scenarios:

• Stimulus checks cannot be given to undocumented immigrants.
• If a citizen is married to an immigrant without a Social Security Number (SSN), they cannot receive the monetary aid during the health crisis.
• Minors who are members of “mixed families” (these families consist of a legal citizen and an undocumented immigrant or both undocumented parents) cannot receive stimulus checks either.

Despite this presidential order, some States decided to help immigrants while the contagion peak decreases in the US.

What is the help provided by the government?

Stimulus checks work as follows:

• Adults can receive up to $ 1,200.
• Each minor has the right to receive $ 500 (this amount is given to the legally responsible adult of the minor).

The current problem is that President Trump banned citizen children who have at least one undocumented parent from receiving the stimulus check.

Children file lawsuit against current government

In light of this presidential order, thousands of families are affected because they cannot receive the monetary aid offered by the government.

Many of these children and their parents are native citizens of the US and are entitled to receive the stimulus check.

Therefore, more than 7 children with their parents filed a lawsuit against Trump’s government, arguing that this decision violates human rights.

They presented their arguments based on the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES), which aims to protect all legal citizens, including families with foreign members.

The lawsuit explicitly states: “The refusal to distribute this benefit to the children of the United States undermines the Cares Act’s goal of providing assistance to Americans in need, thwarts the law’s efforts to boost the economy, and punishes citizen children for their parents’ status, a particularly absurd punishment, given that undocumented immigrants Collectively, they pay billions of dollars each year in taxes.”

This is not the first lawsuit on the same subject.

Added to this lawsuit, there is a pending request made a couple of weeks ago by thousands of native citizens who could not receive their stimulus checks for being married to undocumented immigrants or people with active immigration processes.

The arguments are similar and the plaintiffs are also awaiting a response to this case.

This lawsuit made a couple of weeks ago states that “excluding mixed-status families violates constitutional protections (…) The policy is unconstitutional because it treats mixed-status marriages differently than others.”

If you need to know more about family immigration, don’t hesitate to contact Motion Law for a specialized guide.

The current figures

This policy imposed by the government affects a high percentage of the American population:

• About 2 million native citizens or people with legal permanent residence are married to undocumented immigrants.
• More than 4 million citizen children cannot receive stimulus checks because they have at least one parent without documentation to legally reside in the US.

However, the government forgets that undocumented immigrants, in their effort to obtain legal residence in the country, pay around $ 9 billion in taxes every year.

Trump’s administration has yet to respond to these lawsuits.

Avoid this situation for your family!

Protect your immigration status and seek professional help to properly handle your case and obtain your legal residence in the US.

If you have any questions about an immigration issue or relating to a case you may have currently in progress, then please don’t hesitate to contact us for a FREE Phone Consultation with one of our expert immigration attorneys.

Simply call Motion Law today at: (202) 918-1799.