Cruz, Cornyn file bill to make federal benefit fraud a deportable offense

By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square

U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, both Texas Republicans, have filed a bill to make defrauding the federal government a deportable offense.

The Deporting Fraudsters Act, filed with cosponsors, would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify that “aliens who have been convicted of defrauding the United States Government or unlawfully receiving public benefits are inadmissible and deportable,” according to the bill language. Companion legislation was introduced in the House by U.S. Rep. Dave Taylor, R-Ohio.

“Americans who meet eligibility requirements should be the only ones to receive taxpayer-funded benefits,” Cruz said. “Under the Biden administration’s border policies, abuse of these programs by illegal aliens increased. This bill will stem that abuse, and I urge my colleagues to pass this bill without delay.”

The INA doesn’t include welfare fraud in a list of crimes that make foreign nationals inadmissible or deportable.

It includes a vague phrase, “moral turpitude,” which has been used as “a catch-all cause for deportation and inadmissibility,” the senators argue. “The INA’s lack of a specific welfare fraud offense enables lax and inconsistent punishment for welfare fraud by illegal aliens.”

“Illegal aliens who falsify documents, steal identities, and cheat the system to gain public benefits meant for American citizens, including SNAP or Medicaid, should unquestionably be deported,” Cornyn said. “By ensuring any illegal alien who defrauds the U.S. government can be removed from our country, this commonsense legislation would end the America-last policies of Joe Biden and rightfully put Americans first.”

In February, President Donald Trump directed federal agencies to stop funding public benefits for foreign nationals living illegally in the U.S., The Center Square reported. The order cites federal law, including the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, that “generally prohibits illegal aliens from obtaining most taxpayer-funded benefits.”

Texas has sought to end public benefits for those in the country illegally. In 2021, Texas and 13 states sued to ensure that a federal public charge rule remained in effect, which requires foreign nationals to prove they can financially support themselves prior to being admitted to the U.S., The Center Square reported.

Kansas also sued last year to halt a Biden administration plan to provide free taxpayer-funded health care to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, arguing the plan was illegal. A federal judge agreed, halting it, The Center Square reported.

One estimate puts the cost of taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal foreign nationals at roughly $120 billion a year before the Biden administration border crisis, The Center Square reported. By 2023, a U.S. House report estimated that housing and shelter, public school education, health care and several welfare programs cost taxpayers more than $451 billion.

That’s in addition to another report estimating that every year, $42 billion is spent on one or more welfare programs for illegal foreign nationals and $69 million on public school education for illegal foreign national children; and a Medicare report found that “emergency services for undocumented aliens” cost $7 billion in fiscal 2021 and $5.4 billion in fiscal 2022, with taxpayer money funding at least $8 billion in improper Medicaid payouts (10% of the nation’s total of $80 billion), The Center Square reported.

According to a U.S. Census Bureau 2022 Survey of Income and Program Participation, 48% of households headed by illegal foreign nationals received food-related federal subsidies through multiple programs.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, 1.5 million noncitizens received $4.2 billion in Food Stamp benefits in 2022, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Innovation Center.

According to an Open the Books investigation, “Illegal immigrants have benefitted from at least $197 million in direct federal healthcare-related grants since fiscal year 2021.”

The estimate excludes indirect spending through Medicaid, which the Congressional Budget Office estimated was roughly $27 billion in fiscal years 2017 through 2023.

Total costs of taxpayer funded federal benefits for illegal foreign nationals is expected to be in the trillions going back decades.