Report: Andrew Cuomo Eyes $2.1B Taxpayer-Funded Benefits for Illegal Aliens, Convicted Felons

While more than a million jobs have been lost in New York and an estimated 80,000 New York businesses may not make it to the end of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) is negotiating a plan to provide $2.1 billion worth of taxpayer-funded benefits to illegal aliens and convicted felons.

Sources told the New York Post this week that Cuomo, along with New York State Democrats, is negotiating a $2.1 billion fund where at least 187,000 illegal aliens and 87,000 felons could receive taxpayer-funded unemployment benefits that mirror state and federal benefits.

“It makes no sense to send billions of taxpayer dollars to illegal immigrants and convicted felons,” state Sen. Daphne Jordan (R-NY) told the Post.

Illegal alien and felon recipients could receive up to $28,600 a year thanks to the taxpayer-funded benefits, according to analysts. Weekly, illegal aliens and felons could receive $500 a week. For those unemployed since March 2020, recipients could receive on average $12,600.

Recipients, should the taxpayer-funded program be included in the state budget, could also become secure medical coverage paid for by New York’s public health insurance program.

Illegal aliens already enjoy protection from federal immigration law in New York thanks to the state’s sanctuary policy while those accused of violent crime receive regular aid via Cuomo’s bail initiative that frees them from jail almost immediately after being arrested.

Those benefiting from the bail initiative include suspects accused of second-degree manslaughter, aggravated vehicular assault, third-degree assault, promoting an obscene sexual performance by a child, criminally negligent homicide, aggravated vehicular homicide, and about 100 other crimes.

New York, and particularly New York City, has been ravaged by Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s (D) economic lockdown measures that have now been in place for more than a year. Historic venues, hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, and local neighborhood spots have had to close their doors for good as a result of the lockdowns.

Those forced to close include The Roosevelt hotel in Midtown East that opened in 1924, the Copacabana nightclub which opened in 1940, The Paris Cafe which opened in 1873, and Empire Coffee & Tea which opened in 1908 among hundreds of others.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.