New York to pay undocumented migrants pandemic relief

New York state will issue one-time payments of up to $15,000 to undocumented migrants who lost work during the pandemic under a multi-billion-dollar fund championed by progressive Democrats but opposed by Republicans.

The payments, by far the largest of their kind in the United States, will help tens of thousands of people who arrived in America illegally and who are unable to collect unemployment insurance or federal stimulus checks.

The state's congress approved the $2.1 billion "excluded workers" fund on Wednesday as part of a state budget worth $212 billion for the fiscal year 2022.

The Fiscal Policy Institute, a non-profit that supports the initiative, says it will see more than 90,000 migrants pocket up to $15,600 and some 200,000 others receive more than $3,000.