EDITORIAL: Dem pandering on immigration is out of control

Jan. 13—New York state's Excluded Workers Fund — which provides cash payments of up to $15,600 for those who weren't eligible for federal pandemic stimulus in 2020 — is turning out to be as bad an idea as it sounded in the first place.

CNHI state reporter Joe Mahoney confirmed this week that the state Labor Department and New York State Police are investigating fraudulent claims made to the fund, nearly all of which are for the full $15,600 benefit. The state this week blocked the use of electronic benefits transfer cards that were issued for the program, but provided no more details about the extent of the fraud in the $2.1 billion fund, which was exhausted just nine weeks after being established last year.

The revelations come as the state Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul prepare to debate her budget proposal in time for April 1 passage — and as activists push to expand the fund and make it permanent. Bianca Guerrero of the Fund Excluded Workers Coalition told Spectrum News last month that her group is "calling on Governor Hochul and state lawmakers to permanently repair the holes in our safety net" by committing another $3 billion to the fund and expanding its eligibility to another 295,000 workers.

The fund was created to help undocumented immigrants who haven't been eligible for federal stimulus, and to that end the state forbids the fund's operators from asking about an applicant's citizenship status. The potential for fraud was obvious, and Hochul should have state police conduct a thorough, transparent investigation to reveal exactly how much was wasted.

But the Excluded Workers Fund and its hasty, haphazard rollout are part of a pattern from the state's Democratic leadership that appears to be an overreaction to the rise of Donald Trump. The former president turned abject cruelty toward immigrants into a sort of political theater in which he sought to show off just how monstrous he could be, to the delight of his misanthropic supporters. But Democrats seem to have taken the bait, and are now recklessly scrambling to demonstrate just how much they're willing to pander in the name of undocumented immigrants. Witness New York City's recent law granting the right to vote to non-citizens, an unnecessary and constitutionally dubious measure that is already facing legal challenges. A similar dynamic has happened with law enforcement, where Trump has taunted liberals with enthusiastic endorsements of police brutality, which has provoked some emotionally charged Democrats into making irrational, bombastic "defund the police" arguments.

That's not to say New York should slam the door in the face of immigrants, even the undocumented. The passage of the Green Light Bill granting driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants, for example, was a practical measure that makes sense both for immigrants and for citizens who might cross paths with them in a fender-bender. And this editorial board in the past has debunked myths about immigrants being prone to crime or otherwise a burden on society; on the contrary, those intrepid enough to make it here tend to bring an honest work ethic with them. But we can make New York hospitable for all without showering immigrants with mountains of cash that dwarf the federal stimulus payments that U.S. citizens received.

It will be interesting to see how Hochul handles this issue. Recall that as Erie County clerk in 2007, she opposed then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer's push to grant driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants, a position she conveniently flipped once she became former Gov. Andrew Cuomo's running mate. If she's wise, Hochul will use her leverage to ensure that the Excluded Workers Fund is only a temporary measure.