No, migrants do not receive $2,200 each month from the US federal government

Fake news is based upon a claim made by a guest during an Aug 21 Tucker Carlson interview

NEW YORK (AP) –

CLAIM: The Biden administration is giving people who enter the US illegally payments of $2,200 per month.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. People who enter the US illegally are not eligible for federal cash assistance, with the exception of certain Cubans and Haitians, immigration experts told The Associated Press. Refugees and people granted asylum, as well as some other humanitarian migrants, are entitled to certain public benefits, including cash assistance related to their initial resettlement, though it is not as high as $2,200 each month.

THE FACTS: Social media users are falsely claiming that people in the US illegally receive thousands of dollars in monthly payments from the federal government, an issue that has been misrepresented before online.

One tweet states: “According to a release by the legal immigration group ALIPAC, the Biden administration is giving some illegal aliens payments of $2,200 per month!”

The information cited in the tweet was published by the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC. It relies on an Aug 21 Tucker Carlson interview with retired Army Col Douglas Macgregor. About half way through the segment discussing the Russia-Ukraine war, Macgregor said that “every alleged asylum seeker, illegal migrant pouring in through the border in Texas or wherever else” is given a monthly payment of $2,200.

But those who are in the US illegally are not eligible for such benefits, with rare exceptions, immigration experts said. Certain groups, such as refugees and people granted asylum, do receive cash assistance from the federal government, though at much lower levels than those being claimed online.

“Generally, unauthorized immigrants have very little access to federally-funded public benefits,” Julia Gelatt, associate director of the US immigration policy programme at the Migration Policy Institute, told the AP in an email. “They can mostly only access emergency, in-kind things like shelter and food during a hurricane or other emergency, or emergency healthcare.”

Asked for further evidence of the group’s claim, ALIPAC President William Gheen acknowledged that “by law illegals are not supposed to receive payments from the federal government.”

However, he alleged: “Illegal immigrants are being wrongfully and wilfully misclassified as ‘asylum seekers’ and ‘refugees’ to justify our federal government’s gross violation of numerous existing immigration laws and daily commission of mass felonies.”

Gheen added that ALIPAC “did not make the original claim about the $2,200,” pointing to Carlson’s interview with Macgregor as its source.

Macgregor cited an article published by a Houston radio station on its website to support the claim he made during the interview, which quotes Gheen and the ALIPAC release. The article was published a week after his interview.

Gelatt pointed to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Programme as an example of a federal benefit available to anyone regardless of immigration status. The programme provides supplemental foods, health care referrals and nutrition education — not cash — to low-income pregnant and postpartum women, as well as children up to 5 who are at nutritional risk.

Certain Cubans and Haitians are the only people who can receive federal cash assistance while in the US illegally. Those who qualify include nationals of these countries whose cases for removal from the US are still being decided or who have a pending application for asylum.

Rebekah Wolf, senior policy counsel at the American Immigration Council, confirmed in an email to the AP that aside from qualified Cubans and Haitians, individuals who have entered the country illegally “do not get any financial assistance and are not eligible for any.”

Refugees and people granted asylum — both groups that have legal status in the US — are also eligible for federal cash assistance. Those granted asylum include individuals who face persecution and applied for protection while already in the US Refugees also face persecution, but were granted entry when living outside the country. Some other humanitarian migrants, such as Iraqis or Afghans who worked as a translator or interpreter for the U.S. Armed Forces, may be eligible as well.

This assistance can be accessed a number of different ways.

The Refugee Cash Assistance programme provides people who do not have minor children with financial help to meet basic needs such as food, shelter and transportation, for up to 12 months. The amounts vary by location, but according to Gelatt, “seem to be under $1,000 for a couple, less for a single person.” In Washington state, for example, one person could receive $363 per month, while a married couple could receive $459.

Similarly, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programme provides financial support to families with minor children. These benefits, including the length of time they are available, also vary by state and family size, but Gelatt wrote that they “don’t reach $2,000/month, even for a very large family in a more-generous state.” For instance, a household with three children in New York could receive $698 per month for up to 60 months.

The US Department of State also provides local resettlement agencies with a one-time payment of $2,375 per refugee — $1,275 of that amount can be used for critical needs such as rent, food and clothing, while the rest is earmarked to fund access to services such as cultural orientation, locating housing and legal help.

Mark Miller, a State Department spokesperson, told the AP that the agency “does not provide payments or assistance to undocumented immigrants in the United States.”

Refugees, people granted asylum and certain other groups may also be eligible for supplemental security income if, for example, they are aged 65 or older, blind or disabled. The maximum monthly SSI payment is $914 for an individual and $1,371 for a couple.

Stanford Prescott, a spokesperson for the International Rescue Committee, told the AP that “none of these programs provide a regular monthly payment of $2,200” and that they “typically have strict limitations on eligibility” and length.

“Many of the people who have arrived in the United States in recent years may be considered refugees in the colloquial sense, but they are not legally refugees,” he added. “Notably, asylum seekers who arrive at the border do not qualify for these refugee benefits until they have won their legal case and they are granted asylee status by an immigration judge.”