Arlington to Pay Families of Detained or Deported Illegal Immigrants

ICE detains the wage earner, and Arlington County, VA, taxpayers get the bill. That's the unusual arrangement approved, where officials have dedicated $50,000 in public money to families of immigrants affected by detention and deportation. Qualifying households can receive as much as $2,000 for expenses such as housing, food, and utilities.

Families of Detained Immigrants Get Paid

Should the families of illegal immigrants get financial aid when the main breadwinner is arrested or detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement? The powers that be in Arlington certainly seem to think so.

On September 2, the board voted 4-0 to provide $50,000 for emergency financial assistance in a program expected to last approximately 10 months. The kicker is that the money is coming from the county’s Department of Human Services budget, which means this is taxpayers’ money and not privately donated funds. The county expects it will be able to assist between 25 and 30 families.

"You can't make this up," the official DHS account said in a post to X. "Sanctuary politicians are taking Americans' hard earned tax dollars to reward illegal aliens who break the law. This insanity shows once again who they put first."

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The grants will be distributed by Arlington Thrive and will help support basic needs such as food, housing, and utilities. Qualifying families will be paid by check or debit card, or if neither option works for immigrants because they don’t have a bank account, the foundation will work to find another solution.

“We stand with our immigrant families, and we will not stop doing so,” Board Chair Matt de Ferranti said. “We are valuing the families of those that have been displaced and removed.”

Former Acting ICE Director Jonathan Fahey is not a fan of the program. He Told Fox News Digital that the fact County Manager Mark Schwartz mentioned how many of the families are “unbanked,” “shows the county knows the money is going to be going to people that are illegally here and it will help them stay. So that’s where I think the alien harboring statute comes into play.”

Fahey suggested this kind of program could be considered alien harboring, which could bring in legal questions. “If you look at the alien harboring statute – do you do anything to encourage or induce people to either come illegally or that are illegally here to stay, that could be arguably a violation of the alien harboring statute?” he told Fox News. “By giving money to people… the reasonable inference is that these people are also illegal, the money enables them to stay in the country illegally, because they lost their breadwinner.”

Arlington already has a general Emergency Financial Assistance program for residents facing hardships. It pays as much as $3,000 per household to help with necessities, but it appears to be available to anyone in need, not just families of illegal immigrants.

This isn’t the first or only program the county has that provides funds for illegal immigrants. Earlier this year, it awarded $50,000 to the Edu-Futuro grants program for “families in crisis, especially in situations where household members are detained or deported.” It is expected to aid around 560 people.

Paying Illegals

Arlington isn’t the only one breaking into the coffers to pay for illegal immigrants and their dependents, nor are they the only ones using taxpayer money to do it. Marin County, California, has a very similar program in its Emergency Assistance Fund, providing up to $3,000 to eligible households. To qualify, the household must have an income below 80% of area median income, have a detained or deported family member who was the primary wage earner, and prove an immediate financial need.

Also in the Golden State, Pasadena’s city council appropriated $100,000 to establish its Emergency Assistance Fund to support families affected by federal immigration enforcement. And Irvine, CA’s city council approved an initial $100,000 appropriation in February for legal aid.

In Spokane, Washington, the officials proposed allocating $100,000 in city money to the Spokane Immigrant Rights Coalition’s Community Justice Fund. The city said the money was intended to help individuals and families affected by federal immigration enforcement with housing, healthcare, groceries, and transportation.

Should taxpayers take on the responsibility of paying for families of illegal immigrants who get detained or arrested for breaking the law? Critics argue using the analogy of an American citizen who breaks the law and goes to jail or prison. No one screams in outrage about family separation, and new funding programs aren’t initiated to support their families, so why are these so-called criminals and their loved ones being taken better care of than US residents?