Judge casts doubt on cash payments to illegals

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A judge's ruling in a lawsuit brought by government watchdog Judicial Watch is casting doubt on the validity of a county program to give away cash to illegal aliens.

When Congress adopted the CARES Act to provide emergency relief to businesses and individuals impacted by the coronavirus shutdown, it precluded payments to illegal aliens.

So some jurisdictions, including Montgomery County, Maryland, adopted their own payment programs.

The Montgomery County plan sends direct payments of $500 to a single adult, $1,000 to a family with a child and an additional $150 to a family for each additional child.

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Judicial Watch went to court on behalf of two taxpayers, Sharon Bauer and Richard Jurgena, asking for a halt to the plan.

A court had declined to issue an injunction, but it required County Executive Marc Elrich and Raymond Crowel of the County Department of Health and Human Services to hold back at least 25% of all unspent funds.

The order is in force until the court can fully consider the merits of the case.

The county had approved spending $10 million on the effort.

"This court ruling pushes back on the abuse by county officials who want to send taxpayer coronavirus money to illegal aliens in violation of federal law," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "The coronavirus challenge doesn’t give politicians a pass to violate the law. If politicians want to use tax money from law-abiding taxpayers and send cash payments to illegal aliens, they must be accountable and transparent, and, as federal law requires, pass a state law to do so."

The case, filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court, was moved to federal court on the request of the county officials.

Judicial Watch explained: "Under federal law, certain categories of aliens, including unlawfully present aliens, are ineligible for state or local public benefits. Such benefits include direct, cash payments. If a state chooses to provide such benefits to unlawfully present aliens, it must enact a state law affirmatively providing for such eligibility."

The case argues the county program is illegal because the state legislature has not approved it.

"Therefore, Elrich and the county council overstepped their authority when they created the program."

The court said, "Based on an analysis of the federal statute alone, the court concludes that Plaintiffs have demonstrated a strong likelihood of success on the merits.

The judge said the county claims the program is authorized because officials were acting "pursuant to the authority delegated to it by the general assembly."

The county, he pointed out, has not "provided nor can they (so they say) provide even a rough estimate of the number of unlawfully present aliens who are eligible for the cash payments.

"To date, the county has never asked … applicants their legal status, nor indeed does it seem inclined to do so."