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City of Los Angeles to Handout Prepaid Debit Cards to Residents, Including Illegal Immigrants


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What is with the politicians in the state of California and their infatuation with helping illegal immigrants?

Just a few days ago, the governor of California announced the creation of a $125 million fund specifically for aiding illegal immigrants.

Now, perhaps in an effort to upstage the governor, the mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti has announced that LA residents that meet specific income requirements will be eligible for prepaid debit cards. The kicker here is that immigration status will not be a factor in determining if an individual is eligible for the aid.

According to reports, the prepaid debit cards will range form a $700 minimum to a $1,500 maximum depeneding on household size.

Could the Golden state become anymore crazy? Most Americans would probably agree we shouldn’t be handing over cash to those who broke the law and have no business being in this country.

KTLA originally broke the news:

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced a privately funded campaign Monday to help impoverished Angelenos who may be facing at least one more month of lost income by supplying them with free, prepaid debit cards.

A website and phone number for the program, dubbed the Angeleno Card, appeared to be swamped and unable to process the demand as soon as the application period opened Tuesday morning.

Garcetti said that was due to overwhelming demand, but the website was back up again by Tuesday evening.

A staggering 56,000 applications were submitted on the first day, according to Garcetti.

“Don’t worry if you haven’t gotten through, because there’s two more days still,” he said.

The no-fee debit card is available to city residents whose total household income fell below the federal poverty line before the COVID-19 crisis began and who had their income reduced by at least another 50% due to the outbreak.

The cards will come with $700, $1,100 or $1,500, depending on the size and income of each household, a news release stated.

Assistance from the federal government isn’t enough and won’t reach enough residents, Garcetti said in his daily coronavirus address Monday night.

Cash assistance to families is “exactly what’s needed right now,” the mayor said.

Unfortunately, many took to Twitter announcing illegal immigrants would be eligible for aid and encouraging them to apply:

The Daily Caller elaborated on the news:

Being an illegal alien has no bearing on one’s eligibility, Democratic Mayor Eric Garcetti made clear.

“Applicants will not be asked anything about their immigration status,” the mayor said Monday when discussing the program. “We are all Angelenos.”

City residents appear to be in dire need of the funds. When the government began accepting applications Tuesday morning, the site crashed due to heavy traffic volume, and people who chose to apply over the phone reported long wait times. 

“HCIDLA requests your patience while we improve the site capacity. Our site is overwhelmed by the thousands of ppl attempting to access the app simultaneously. We apologize for the inconvenience,” tweeted the Housing and Community Investment Department of Los Angeles on Tuesday.

“Try again later,” it added.

Depending on how many eligible applicants apply, officials might have to randomly select who gets a card.

Unlike other city-wide initiatives for victims of the economic lockdown, this program is not being funded by taxpayers. Instead, it’s a partnership between the nonprofit Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles and Mastercard’s City Possible.

The funds are expected to be doled out to recipients by April 20.

Other cities — such as Minneapolis and Chicago — are providing coronavirus relief to illegal aliens. However, California stands out as one state that is a major proponent of such efforts.

When the news broke about California's fund for illegal immigrants, a frenzy on Twitter occurred. Understandably so, many were not happy about taxpayers footing the bill. Check out some of the reactions below:



 

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