United States of America

DOJ Ties Welfare Funds to Immigration Reporting

Is this closing a long-overdue welfare loophole or illegally strong-arming states into becoming immigration enforcers?

8 hours ago·Updated 2 hours ago

DOJ Ties Welfare Funds to Immigration Reporting

Story

Above: Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in in New York City on Sept. 1. Image credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

The Spin

Republican narrative

The DOJ's new directive is a long-overdue enforcement of a law Congress passed in 1996 — states that take billions in TANF and SSI dollars have always been required to report undocumented immigrants to DHS. A Clinton-era legal dodge let sanctuary states collect federal welfare funds while shielding people who aren't lawfully present. Taxpayer money was never meant to be a magnet for illegal entry.

The Gateway Pundit

Benny Johnson on X

Democratic narrative

Threatening to yank welfare funding unless states become immigration enforcement arms isn't restoring the law. This opinion reverses decades of settled precedent and drags every state agency into immigration policing, regardless of what those agencies were designed to do. Federal courts have blocked similar funding ultimatums before, and this power grab deserves the same fate.

Jack Hopkins on X New York State Attorney General