Messages claim that illegal immigrants can get up to $3,874 a month under the Federal Assistance Program, while the average social security check given to residents averages at around $1,200.
Such claims first spread in relation to illegal immigrants in Canada, but have since spread across the United States as well.
Illegals can get up to $3,874 a month under Federal Assistance program. Our social security checks are on average $1200 a month. RT if you agree: If you weren’t born in the United States, you should receive $0 assistance.
Regardless of whether the message is directed at Canada (as it was originally intended to be) or even more spuriously directed at the United States, the message is highly inaccurate.
The message seems to have started life on Facebook in 2017 when a user posted a (now deleted) image of paperwork appearing to show a breakdown of a check given to a refugee under the Resettlement Assistance Program, which is a Canadian program.
The image was posted along with the claim that this is the monthly allowance given to one illegal immigrant in Canada. See below.
While the image of the breakdown of costs is genuine, the caption provided with it was wrong on three pertinent points –
– It’s not a monthly allowance. Everything listed under the Start-Up section is a one-off payment, not a reoccurring monthly payment. Additionally the section under Security Loan is also a one-off payment that would naturally be expected to be paid back.
– This is not given to illegal immigrants, who would receive no financial assistance to resettle, since they are, after all, illegal and as such, undocumented. The resettlement assistance program is for documented refugees who are recognised by the Canadian government and as such, under no meaningful interpretation of the term, could be considered ‘illegal’.
– This is not the breakdown cost for one immigrant. At the top of the document it clearly states it is for a family size of 5 people.
Despite all those three points being wrong, they still made it into the quoted message at the top of this article that is being spread primarily around Twitter, but to make matters worse, it is now being directed at readers in the United States, as well as being proliferated by many high profile US accounts, which makes the message even more spurious than it was when it was directed at Canadian readers.