New York state, Colorado, and the District of Columbia have paid billions in unemployment insurance checks to unemployed illegal aliens, but at the moment only the Colorado scheme seems to be alive. Efforts are being made to revive the other two programs.
That is a quick summary of a recent report filed by Washington D.C.’s Immigration Reform Law Institute.
By far the biggest of these programs is that of the state of New York, which set aside $2.1 billion for “excluded workers” (its word for illegal aliens), as we reported more than a year ago. That program ran out of money and is inactive at the moment, though advocates seek its revival.
Colorado has a $600 million program for the same population that is still functioning.
The District of Columbia had a one-time program worth $15 million for its illegal aliens, but it, like the New York program, has lapsed.
Routinely illegal aliens are not eligible for these benefits. Some California legislators are pushing for that state to pay unemployment checks to illegals.