A Virginia GOP leader is pushing back against a new county program to provide taxpayer-funded grants to the families of illegal immigrants whose primary wage earner was detained or deported by federal immigration authorities.
Arlington County, which sits across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., endorsed a plan on Sept. 2 to appropriate $50,000 for the social safety-net program. Under the terms of the project, the funds would be given to the nonprofit Arlington Thrive, which would provide up to $2,000 to the families to cover basic needs.
“This flies in the face of the Trump administration policy, and it is a detriment to taxpayers of Arlington – tens of thousands of whom are conservative and Republican and oppose this policy,” Matthew Hurtt, chairman of the Arlington County GOP, told Digital.
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Hurtt described the money as a “slush fund” designed to further oppose the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. He noted that since Arlington Thrive is a nonprofit, it is exempt from transparency protocols that normally apply to government agencies.
The County Board praised the program at a special meeting, where it voted 4-0 with one member absent.
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“We stand with our immigrant families, and we will not stop doing so,” Board Chair Matt de Ferranti said. “We are valuing the families of those that have been displaced and removed.”
The move follows a recent law enforcement operation in which more than 1,300 illegal immigrants were arrested over a two-week period in the Washington, D.C., and Virginia area.
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In January, as part of the county’s opposition to immigration enforcement, de Ferranti urged residents to report sightings of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to county authorities.
Arlington County, as well as other counties in Northern Virginia, have for years tried to subvert the Trump administration’s efforts to fight illegal immigration through various sanctuary policies, Hurtt said.
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“Arlington County, Fairfax County, and other Northern Virginia counties are completely run by far-left activists who love this kind of program,” he said. “They have, for years, since President Trump’s first administration, sought to be the first line of defense against the orange man.”
“So if something happens in Washington that is supported by Republicans, the county board in Arlington and Fairfax does exactly the opposite,” he added.
Meanwhile, Hurtt said, county leaders have pushed for voters to support bond measures for critical services, which are covered by additional taxes.
“Every single election cycle, the Arlington County board puts hundreds of millions of dollars on the ballot in the form of bond issues for basic services — school improvements, road construction, and other projects that they deem necessary,” he said.
“What that tells voters is that they aren’t prioritizing those projects, projects that they bond out and borrow dollar after dollar, but they’re prioritizing these far-left projects like a slush fund for illegal aliens,” he added.
Digital has reached out to Arlington County Democrats and the County Board for comment.
