*Emergency* Federal CARES Act relief must be made available to EVERY citizen, parent, family and child in our country -- without exception and without allowing these emergency federal payments to be seized, taken, re-categorized or used for other purposes by financial institutions or state agencies.
Why is this important?
Millions of people are either being denied any Federal CARES Act relief or having the federally issued emergency COVID-19 relief payments issued to help them and their families seized, taken, and used for other intents and purposes --- to pay non-emergency debts.
This amounts to institutional and state THEFT of federal emergency relief payments made to help the people of our country during a time of global emergency and national crisis - for PROFIT and GREED.
As one example, millions of divorced parents, their families and their children are having the federal emergency relief payments issued to them unlawfully treated as income and seized by the states.
Their payments are being seized to pay back "child support" - even if the parents are making regular payments. The states are seizing and taking their emergency relief payments, treating the money and income - and using it to line state coffers and to enrich the states.
In effect, this is allowing states to engage in criminal profiteering from the global pandemic.
This is the nightmare scenario now unfolding across this country for millions of parents and their families.
Parents are losing their jobs and sources of income as a result of business and government shutdowns. Millions of these parents are finding themselves unable to continue paying “child support” (in addition to being denied equal access to their children).
Under normal circumstances, these parents would be able to file a motion for modification with the court and state. But our courts have shut down indefinitely because of the crisis. So divorced parents have no way to modify their support orders debts, and interest penalties mount for them each week.
As they fall behind, with no access to the courts, their driver's and professional licenses can be suspended and they can be jailed (at state taxpayer expense), making it impossible for them to find new employment. When potential employers do background checks, they don’t care why someone was jailed – all they see is that the person was jailed, so why would they hire you?
The state is profiteering because the federal government pays the state matching dollars for every dollar of “child support debt” the state manufactures and reports it as collecting to the federal government (See SSA Title IV-D.)
You can be behind or defaulted in student loan payments to the federal government and get a CARES Act emergency relief check.
You can be defaulted and behind in your IRS taxes, and get a CARES Act emergency relief check.
You can be a convicted felon in jail, and receive a CARES Act emergency relief check.
You can be DEAD or a foreign national, and receive a CARES Act emergency relief check.
But if you are one of millions of parents who owe even a dollar of back “child support,” you and your family with receive NO CARES Act relief. This included parents who are often paying expenses for TWO households, years after their divorces were final, even if you are paying support in accordance with court orders!
Divorced parents and their families and children are not second-class citizens to be unconstitutionally denied Equal Protection of our Laws.
Parents married to immigrants and their families and children are also not second-class citizens to be unconstitutionally denied Equal Protection of our Laws.
Millions of small business owners have received NO relief.
This injustice must be corrected!
