Illegal Immigrants Given 7 Times More Taxpayer-Funded Benefits Than Military Families

Sarah Arnold reporting for Townhall 

It pays more to be an undocumented immigrant living illegally in the United States than it does to be a soldier who is serving the country. 

According to a new report, criminal illegal immigrants are given seven times more taxpayer-funded assistance than military families are. 

Part of a $53 million New York City program, illegal immigrant families of four will receive on average $1,440 a month. This is more than the allowance for some deployed troops. 

According to the Military Times, enlisted soldiers receive a guaranteed allowance of $452.56 a month in basic for sustenance. Deployed soldiers only receive $399.90 in monthly meal deductions, despite not using base dining halls.

Under the current system, over $200 is lost each month for each deployed soldier and their families. So in other words, soldiers receive about $1,860 less cumulatively during a nine-month deployment than they would have if they had not been deployed. 

In comparison, illegal immigrant families living in New York City have been given pre-paid debit cards totaling about $1,440 a month. Each person in the family receives about $360 monthly. 

“The fact that some of our Soldiers are paying more while deployed is not even the worst hole in the current system which requires a presidential declaration to enable the tax exclusion. Because Somalia was not declared a combat zone in 1993 [which means the American Soldiers deployed there did not qualify for the Combat Zone Tax Exclusion (CZTE)], the 43 Soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice during Operation Restore Hope (Black Hawk Down) were also forced to posthumously pay income tax on every cent they made with their dying breath,” Korean Response Force, Captain Christopher Wilson wrote in a letter to Congress. 

Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) warned that this poses a national security concern to the U.S., saying that when soldiers are deployed, they lose parts of their food subsidies, which is a heavy financial and retention burden. 

Wilson suggested to Congress that they must reform the current tax exclusion into a "Deployment Income" tax exclusion (DITE) for service members overseas. 

He cited that this would give soldiers $724 more a month in their paychecks, which would be enough to cover monthly childcare costs while they are deployed.