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New York to give up to $15,600 to undocumented migrants who lost work due to Covid

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York lawmakers struck a deal Tuesday on a $2.1 billion fund for undocumented essential workers who lost their jobs because of the Covid-19 pandemic, The New York Times reported.

The “Excluded Workers Fund” could provide payments to hundreds of thousands of people excluded from other pandemic relief.

The measure passed in the New York legislature this week with a vote of 42-21, as part of a broader $212 billion state budget agreement. New York will now offer one-time payments of up to $15,600 to undocumented immigrants who lost work during the pandemic.

Undocumented workers that are able to verify that they are state residents, ineligible for federal unemployment benefits and lost income as a result of the pandemic, could receive up to $15,600, the equivalent of $300 per week for the last year, according to the Times.

Others undocumented immigrants who are unable to meet the same level of verification will be eligible for up to $3,200.

The Fiscal Policy Institute, a New York based policy group, estimated that 290,000 workers will benefit from the Excluded Worker Fund. About 92,000 workers in New York state will be eligible for the full $15,600 payment.

Fox News contributor and former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer slammed the Excluded Workers Fund, calling New York “one messed up state.”

“Many American taxpayers are struggling to make ends meet. Businesses by law are not supposed to hire people who are here illegally. So what does NY do? It takes money from taxpayers and gives it to people who are here illegally. NY is one messed up state,” Fleischer wrote on Twitter.

Follow Annaliese Levy on Twitter @AnnalieseLevy

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Economy

House inquiry opened as to whether IRS is using artificial intelligence to invade Americans’ financial privacy

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An inquiry has been opened by the House Judiciary Committee as to whether the IRS is using artificial intelligence to invade Americans’ financial privacy. The inquiry comes after an agency employee was captured in an undercover tape suggesting there was a widespread surveillance operation underway that might not be constitutional, reports Just the News.

The inquiry was opened by Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., who sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen demanding documents, and answers as to how the agency is currently employing artificial intelligence to comb through bank records to look for possible tax cheats.

The House Judiciary Committee has been investigating why the FBI was obtaining Americans’ bank records, including those who partook in the January 6 Capitol riots, without using search warrants or subpoenas.

Jordan’s and Hageman’s letter said lawmakers have evidence and reason to believe that the IRS and Department of Justice (DOJ) are actively monitoring millions of Americans’ private transactions, bank accounts, and related financial information—without any legal process—using the AI-powered system.

“This kind of pervasive financial surveillance, carried out in coordination with federal law enforcement, into Americans’ private financial records raises serious doubts about the IRS’s—and the federal government’s—respect for Americans’ fundamental civil liberties,” the letter said.

“So one of the things that I have learned since I’ve been in Congress is that there are quite a few people in government who do not recognize our constitutional protections,” Hageman told Just the News. “They’ve kind of forgotten or at least ignored our Bill of Rights.”

Just the News also reported that the Treasury Department has since acknowledged it has “implemented an enhanced process using AI to mitigate check fraud in near real-time by strengthening and expediting processes to recover potentially fraudulent payments from financial institutions’ since late 2022.”

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