SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
People wait in line, six feet apart to socially distance, to get groceries at a pop-up food pantry hosted by Pan Y Cafe in Chelsea, MA on April 14, 2020. (Photo: Erin Clark/The Boston Globe/Getty Images)
'Deliberately Cruel': Millions of US Citizens Blocked From Stimulus Payments Because They Married Immigrants
"We're flat broke. We don't know what's gonna happen."
Apr 21, 2020
Reporting out Monday shed new light on the fact that millions of U.S. citizens are not eligible to receive coronavirus stimulus checks because of who they married.
This large group, as the Los Angeles Times reported, is made of American citizens who file taxes jointly with a spouse who uses an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number--an identification the IRS issues to workers who don't have a Social Security Number.
Those with ITINs include those who are undocumented and those who may be in the legalization process.
The block means that not only will the adult in the mixed status home not be eligible for their $1,200 check but the household itself will also not receive a $500 per child payment that was part of the CARES Act, bringing further economic woes to taxpayers as the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic continues.
There is one exception. The citizen is not prevented from receiving the one-time payment if one spouse serves in the U.S. military.
"It's a deliberately cruel carve-out," Manar Waheed, senior legislative and advocacy counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union, told the LA Times. "In creating an exception for military families, they very, very deliberately left all of these other people out of the cash rebate."
The Dallas Morning News also drew attention to the issue last week, and included comment from Julia Gelatt, a senior policy analyst for the Washington, D.C.-based Migration Policy Institute, who said "over 10 million people are affected" by the exclusion.
Christina Segundo, a U.S. citizen and mother of four whose husband uses an ITIN, talked to the Texas outlet about what the lack of the stimulus check means for her family. She stopped working at her UPS job over fears of getting her family infected with COVID-19. Her husband is still working but has seen his hours cut in recent weeks by more than half.
"We're flat broke," Segundo said. "We don't know what's gonna happen."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Reporting out Monday shed new light on the fact that millions of U.S. citizens are not eligible to receive coronavirus stimulus checks because of who they married.
This large group, as the Los Angeles Times reported, is made of American citizens who file taxes jointly with a spouse who uses an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number--an identification the IRS issues to workers who don't have a Social Security Number.
Those with ITINs include those who are undocumented and those who may be in the legalization process.
The block means that not only will the adult in the mixed status home not be eligible for their $1,200 check but the household itself will also not receive a $500 per child payment that was part of the CARES Act, bringing further economic woes to taxpayers as the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic continues.
There is one exception. The citizen is not prevented from receiving the one-time payment if one spouse serves in the U.S. military.
"It's a deliberately cruel carve-out," Manar Waheed, senior legislative and advocacy counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union, told the LA Times. "In creating an exception for military families, they very, very deliberately left all of these other people out of the cash rebate."
The Dallas Morning News also drew attention to the issue last week, and included comment from Julia Gelatt, a senior policy analyst for the Washington, D.C.-based Migration Policy Institute, who said "over 10 million people are affected" by the exclusion.
Christina Segundo, a U.S. citizen and mother of four whose husband uses an ITIN, talked to the Texas outlet about what the lack of the stimulus check means for her family. She stopped working at her UPS job over fears of getting her family infected with COVID-19. Her husband is still working but has seen his hours cut in recent weeks by more than half.
"We're flat broke," Segundo said. "We don't know what's gonna happen."
Reporting out Monday shed new light on the fact that millions of U.S. citizens are not eligible to receive coronavirus stimulus checks because of who they married.
This large group, as the Los Angeles Times reported, is made of American citizens who file taxes jointly with a spouse who uses an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number--an identification the IRS issues to workers who don't have a Social Security Number.
Those with ITINs include those who are undocumented and those who may be in the legalization process.
The block means that not only will the adult in the mixed status home not be eligible for their $1,200 check but the household itself will also not receive a $500 per child payment that was part of the CARES Act, bringing further economic woes to taxpayers as the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic continues.
There is one exception. The citizen is not prevented from receiving the one-time payment if one spouse serves in the U.S. military.
"It's a deliberately cruel carve-out," Manar Waheed, senior legislative and advocacy counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union, told the LA Times. "In creating an exception for military families, they very, very deliberately left all of these other people out of the cash rebate."
The Dallas Morning News also drew attention to the issue last week, and included comment from Julia Gelatt, a senior policy analyst for the Washington, D.C.-based Migration Policy Institute, who said "over 10 million people are affected" by the exclusion.
Christina Segundo, a U.S. citizen and mother of four whose husband uses an ITIN, talked to the Texas outlet about what the lack of the stimulus check means for her family. She stopped working at her UPS job over fears of getting her family infected with COVID-19. Her husband is still working but has seen his hours cut in recent weeks by more than half.
"We're flat broke," Segundo said. "We don't know what's gonna happen."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.