Representatives Jodey Arrington (R-TX) and Chip Roy (R-TX) have introduced the America First Act, a bill designed to "prevent illegal immigrants paroled into the United States from accessing billions of dollars in welfare and other benefits intended for American families." According to Rep. Arrington, the legislation comes in response to the abuse of taxpayer dollars by immigrants who've come to the United States illegally.
Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) has introduced companion legislation in the upper chamber.
Rep. Arrington, who also serves as the House Budget Chairman, shared that this bill will address the "unprecedented and unmitigated crisis" at the border.
“Over the last four years, the unprecedented and unmitigated crisis at the southern border has devastated our communities. As long as we provide taxpayer funded social services to illegal immigrants, there is no physical barrier or number of border patrol agents that will stop them,” said Chairman Arrington. “To add insult to injury, we’re paying $9,000 per illegal immigrant - more than we spend on Medicaid for our most vulnerable Americans or military retirement benefits for our soldiers. Today, I am proud to join Chip Roy and Mike Lee in introducing the America First Act, which would cut off federal benefits for illegals and save over $177 billion.”
Furthermore, Rep. Roy said that illegal immigrants exploiting American resources and taxpayer monies is "inexcusable" and must end.
“Millions of illegal aliens are exploiting U.S. welfare and aid programs that are meant to help struggling Americans,” said Rep. Roy. “This is inexcusable. Continuing to hand out welfare to illegals only acts as a magnet for them to keep flooding our communities. That’s why we introduced the America First Act to end illegal aliens’ ability to profit off of American taxpayer dollars once and for all.”
Finally, Sen. Lee added that the America First Act would "pull the plug" on this issue.
"For years, Americans have been told that illegal immigrants are barred from receiving federal benefits to distract from Washington’s complete failure to secure our borders,” said Sen. Lee. "This is a lie. Millions of illegal immigrants 'paroled' into the United States, many for fraudulent asylum claims, have gained the ability to access welfare and aid programs originally designed to help American families, not attract and support massive populations of foreign citizens. The America First Act pulls the plug on this criminal redistribution scheme forced upon the American people by Joe Biden and generations of dishonest politicians.”
The bill has the support of groups such as Heritage Action for America, Immigration Accountability Project, Texas Public Policy Foundation, Tea Party Patriots Action, and CatholicVote, among others.
