Madison, WI using $700K in COVID relief for migrants, lawmaker says: 'Out of touch'

MADISON, Wis. (TND) — Wisconsin state Senator Duey Stroebel, R-Cederberg, sounded the alarm Thursday after learning of a decision in the state’s capital to aid migrants with pandemic relief funds.

The City of Madison, State Sen. Stroebel wrote in a press release, is diverting State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) to aid asylum seekers arriving in the city. These funds were issued through the American Rescue Plan to help state and local governments through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Madison is aware asylum seekers arriving in the city can’t receive direct government assistance funds and is therefore using SLRF “as a way around the system,” the senator wrote. Taking to X, he explained these funds can be used to pay utility bills and buy gas and food for migrants.

“Communities around this country are grappling with the consequences of the open border policies of the Biden/Harris administration,” State Sen. Stroebel wrote. “The decision to use pandemic relief money to assist illegal immigrants at the expense of Wisconsinites reveals the out of touch priorities of Madison politicians.”

State Sen. Stroebel also wrote a letter addressed to Madison grants supervisor Dory Rey, asking her to answer for the city’s decision to appropriate about $700,000 for migrants.

“This earmark for illegal immigrants is alarming since you point out these individuals would normally be ‘ineligible’ for ‘direct assistance’ in many cases,” the senator wrote.

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State Sen. Stroebel concluded by asking Rey to provide copies of the grant applications for undocumented migrants, as well as a breakdown of how the $700K is being used.

Earlier this week, Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., demanded answers from President Joe Biden over a program providing asylum seekers with $500 in monthly housing assistance.

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