Federal Judge Rules that CARES Act Stimulus Funding Case of Children of Undocumented Parents Can Proceed

At the end of March, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which provided individual aid in the amount of $1,200 to eligible adults and $500 per child. However, these funds were distributed only to people with Social Security numbers, which by definition excludes undocumented people, despite the fact that they can still pay federal and state taxes under a different identification number. In addition to rejecting the government’s immunity arguments, the judge in this case ruled that at this stage, the plaintiff children had established that they had been directly harmed by this policy, and that they had standing to pursue their claims. The federal government is facing multiple lawsuits regarding how it has handled the administration of COVID-19 relief funds for individuals and businesses.