Many students, immigrants ineligible for COVID-19 relief checks

By
Madeline Ackley
-
(Stephanie Snyder/DD)

Many Americans checked their bank accounts this week to find that $1,200 had been automatically deposited, while others are still waiting for their relief check to come in the mail. But for some, relief is not on the way.

The $2 trillion government stimulus package passed in late March left out some other demographics, including certain young people, students, dependent adults and undocumented immigrants.

Dependent students, young people:

Young people between the ages of 17 and 24 who were claimed as dependents on their parents’ most recent tax returns will not receive a stimulus check even if they are living independently.

As it turns out, neither will their parents. Qualifying parents of dependent children under the age of 17 should receive $500 per child, but parents will not receive money for dependents 17 and up.

Universities themselves, however, have received emergency funding from the federal government. ASU was cut one of the largest checks at $63 million, with the caveat that 50% must be spent on student needs such as housing and technology costs.

Dependent adults:

Older people who are filed as dependents are also left out of the stimulus package.
However, that is not to say that retired Americans who don’t file their annual taxes won’t get a check. Many non-filers, such as retirees, are eligible for a stimulus check, and can find out here.

Social security recipients will automatically receive a check, even if they did not file a return.

Undocumented immigrants:

The roughly 7.6 million undocumented workers employed in the United States also do not qualify for relief checks. Many undocumented immigrants, who are largely employed in the service industry, have suffered financial hardships as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While undocumented immigrants don’t typically qualify for government benefits, many immigrant rights advocates have argued that in an unprecedented time like this, undocumented immigrants should be included.

“COVID-10 does not care about your immigration status, so neither should our response,” said U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona.

How to know if you qualify:

The amount of money Americans will receive is based on a sliding scale starting at $1,200 for lower-income tax brackets and diminishes for those with an annual income greater than $75,000. If you are single and make more than $99,000 per year or more than $136,500 as a head-of-household, sorry, but you won’t be receiving a check.

If you receive your tax returns through direct deposit and are not among the groups listed above, chances are your check has already arrived in your bank account. If not, yours may be making its way through the mail.

The IRS rolled out a “Get My Payment” feature where you can monitor the status of your relief check, but some have not been able to immediately access the status of their payment.

For more information, check the website of the Internal Revenue Service.

Contact the reporter at mkackley@asu.edu.

Madeline is the community editor for Downtown Devil and is a senior studying at the Walter Cronkite School. She is a local freelance journalist who primarily covers politics, policing, immigration and business. In 2019, she won first place in her category in the national SPJ Mark of Excellence Awards for her reporting on deported veterans in Tijuana, Mexico with Cronkite News.