The funds have been used to pay utility bills, provide food assistance, and help the illegal immigrants access legal representation.
The city of Madison, Wis. is spending $700,000 in federal Covid-relief funds on aid for illegal immigrants.
The funding was disclosed in Madison’s quarterly compliance report for the fourth quarter of 2023 and highlighted in a letter written Thursday by state senator Duey Stroebel (R) demanding further information.
“This earmark for illegal immigrants is alarming since you point out these individuals would normally be ‘ineligible’ for ‘direct public assistance’ in many cases,” he wrote, requesting further information about the allocation of funds under the state’s public-records law.
Over $600,000 of the allocated funds have been spent on services for illegal immigrants such as paying utility bills, providing food assistance, and helping them access legal representation. The funding comes from the American Rescue Plan, President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-stimulus package, which was passed in 2021 right after Biden took office.
Madison received $47.2 million from the American Rescue Plan’s State and Local Recovery Funds component, and $22.8 million of those funds have been allocated towards community investment, including $1 million of “emerging needs” support for illegal immigrants and senior citizens. The bill requires quarterly transparency reports, and the most recent report caught the attention of Stroebel and a conservative watchdog organization, the Institute for Reforming Government.
“It is troubling to learn that the City of Madison is funneling taxpayer dollars intended to help Wisconsinites to illegal immigrants. Taxpayers need answers. Our team at the Center for Investigative Oversight is committed to working with our state and federal partners to bring to light answers for the hardworking taxpayers of our state,” IRG director of oversight Jake Curtis said in a statement.
Some of the funding for illegal immigrants is being allocated to nonprofit community partners through a grant application process that began in March 2022. The funding was designed for “services to residents who are undocumented” and reported under the negative economic impacts expenditure category, according to the quarterly report.
“The City of Madison using taxpayer dollars to provide for illegal immigrants is yet another example of the waste and abuse of COVID relief funds. There needs to be accountability for Americans’ tax dollars and that starts by cracking down on this misuse,” Representative Tom Tiffany (R., Wis.) told National Review.
Among the immigration nonprofits to receive grants from Madison is the Community Immigration Law Center, a legal clinic that gives legal services to illegal immigrants facing deportation. Madison awarded the organization $100,000 in December 2022. Cocial services organizations such as the Catholic Multicultural Center and the African Center for Community Development also received portions of the grant money.
“ARPA funding was a vital part of Madison’s response to the COVID pandemic and it’s wide-reaching impact on our community,” said Madison mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, a nonpartisan affiliated with the Democratic party.
“We are proud of the work our community partners did with this funding and the difference that it made for some of our hardest-hit residents and communities.”