The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) warned governors across the U.S. and overseas territories to prevent illegal migrants from claiming unemployment benefits or risk losing federal grants.
“[I]t is critical that we ensure American taxpayer dollars do not go towards encouraging or rewarding illegal immigration to the United States,” Lori Chavez-DeRemer, United States Secretary of Labor, wrote in a letter dated April 24 to each governor.
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Compliance with the directive, Chavez-DeRemer wrote, would be in line with President Donald Trump’s presidential memorandum aimed at preventing illegal migrants from receiving social security benefits and his executive order aimed at preventing taxpayer dollars from incentivizing illegal immigration into the country.
She urged them to use the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration database to vet claimants. The database “is a critical tool in the toolbox in ensuring that illegal immigrants do not access our nation’s unemployment benefits,” she wrote.
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Title III of the Social Security Act, administered by the DOL, provides states with federal grants to support their administration of unemployment benefits to qualified individuals.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom — a recipient of Chavez-DeRemer’s letter — vetoed a Democrat-authored bill seeking to amend the state’s labor laws so that “unemployed workers who are ineligible for unemployment insurance due to their immigration status” could receive UI-like financial aid.
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Rebecca Saldaña introduced a bill January that would “[c]reate a wage replacement program” for illegal immigrants in Washington State. The bill had a public hearing in the state’s Senate Committee on Ways & Means February 26 and “awaits further action,” according to Saldaña.
