Illinois guaranteed income pilot offers federal funds to illegal immigrants

by Jacob Fuller
Illinois guaranteed income pilot offers federal funds to illegal immigrants

Lauren C. Moye, FISM News

 

A two-year cash assistance program in Illinois funded by federal tax dollars is now open to undocumented citizens.

Cook County’s Promise Guaranteed Income Pilot is now accepting applications. The program will select 3,250 households to receive monthly cash payments in the amount of $500 each. Eligibility is determined by county residency and household income levels below 250% of the Federal Poverty level.

However, the pilot program – which is funded through American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds – will not exclude noncitizens from applying. While not directly stated in the eligibility section of the website, the FAQs section includes, “Do I need to be a permanent resident or a U.S. citizen to participate?”

The website then reads, “This pilot is open to all residents of Cook County, regardless of your immigration status. This means that if you are undocumented, or your household is a mixed-status household, and you meet the eligibility criteria above, you are eligible to participate.”

Cook County contains the city of Chicago, a known sanctuary city.

Undocumented immigrants are further encouraged to apply by a promise to protect their personal information. Cook County promises, “We will not share information on immigration status with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).”

While the program applicants are chosen by random lottery, the funds are provided through ARPA and the state and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program.

Applications for the program are open until Oct. 21.

Cook County is the second highest-populated county in the nation, next to Los Angeles County in California. 2020 Census data shows roughly 5.17 million residents in this county with 12.9% of the population estimated to live in poverty. Because of the higher income limit, Cook County Council estimates that 36% of all residents will be able to apply.

“With a $42 million investment, this two-year pilot is the largest publicly-funded guaranteed income initiative in American history and will provide thousands of our residents with a stable economic foundation – many for the first time in their lives,” said Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.

In 2017, a Chicago Tribune report estimated that roughly 307,000 illegal immigrants lived in Cook County. 183,000 of these are estimated to live directly in Chicago.

This is important because the Promise Guaranteed Income Pilot is the second universal income program that has been initiated in the area with ARPA funding. Chicago initiated its own one-year trial that also gives $500 per household impacted by Covid-19 financial hardship.

While the Resilient Communities Pilot does not explicitly welcome non-citizens to apply, the eligibility requirements are almost identical to the Promise Guaranteed Pilot.

Even if Resilient Communities did not award illegal immigrants funds, there are other guaranteed income programs at least partially funded with federal tax dollars that do make a point of including undocumented residents.

Evanston, Illinois used ARPA funding to give a $500 monthly stipend to 150 families for a year. Under its eligibility criteria, it lists “undocumented community members.”

Denver announced a similar guaranteed income pilot in September. That program excludes men, stating that applicants must be female, transgender, or identify as “non-binary.”

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