Nearly 2.4 million people in Texas were shut out of federal relief by the Trump administration, San Antonio Express-News reports, including hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens who are excluded from funds because they’re married to an immigrant.
The financial barriers come even as local prosperity in the state has been thanks in part to the labor of immigrants: “In Houston, immigrants are responsible for more than 26 percent of the area’s GDP, according to a study by New American Economy,” the report said.
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), has been among the
groups that have sued the federal government over the denial of relief
to mixed-status families. Under the CARES Act, only taxpayers who have a Social Security number are eligible for relief, shutting out immigrants who filed returns using an IRS-issued Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) as well as their U.S. citizen spouses if they filed joint returns.
”Among the U.S. citizens suing the federal government is
Christina Segundo Hernandez, a Texas resident,” MALDEF said in a
statement. “She filed her 2019 tax return with her husband, a construction
worker, who has an ITIN. She recently learned that her family, which
includes her four U.S.-born children, are blocked from receiving a
recovery check.”
Because of the federal government’s cruel policy, their
family is at increased risk during this pandemic. "The federal
government shouldn't be able to exclude some U.S. citizens from getting
help because of the person they are married to," Segundo Hernandez said
in the statement. "My husband and I pay taxes; I was born in this
country. My children were born here, yet the U.S. government now wants
to turn its back on me and treat me as if I'm not a citizen. That's
wrong."
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