States must alert the federal government to known illegal immigrants when they opt into receiving certain federal welfare benefits, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday. The move withdraws a 1998 DOJ opinion and clarifies that under a 1996 welfare-reformlaw – the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act – all state agencies, including those that administer welfare funding, have the duty to report individuals unlawfully in the United States to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). [snip] “Congress wrote this requirement plainly,” said Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser of the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel. “When a state chooses to participate in TANF, it accepts the obligation to report illegal aliens in the United States.” States that do not alert DHS to unlawful individuals attempting to obtain welfare thus encourage illegal immigration and take tax dollars away from U.S. citizens, Gaiser said in a statement. [snip] “We reached that view by disregarding [the 1996 law’s] definition of ‘State’ and giving that term inconsistent meanings within the same statutory provision,” the Office of Legal Counsel admitted in its new opinion. “We conclude that our 1998 Opinion improperly narrowed the conditions that Congress attached to federal funding for certain federal benefits programs. We now withdraw it.” All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and several U.S. territories participate in TANF and the Supplemental Security Income programs, the DOJ said. Funding for the TANF program alone accounts for more than $16.4 billion each year. [snip] “States that accept TANF funding must abide by federal law, and failure to comply may lead to serious consequences, including loss of program funding,” Craddock said in the statement. The DOJ clarified this new opinion only applies prospectively. States will not face retroactive penalties or altered agreements for welfare funds because those contracts complied with the 1998 interpretation. (*) Full article: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/states-must-report-illegal-immigrants-feds-or-risk-losing-federal-welfare-funding-doj Post navigation The obscene imprisonment of Tuo Thao Trump Has More to Say on the Stellar August Jobs Report, Wall Street, and Interest Rates
