MarketPR
A $50,000 grant program Arlington County, Virginia approved to support families of detained or deported illegal immigrants is drawing scrutiny from federal officials and former senior law enforcement who say it may cross into alien harboring territory under federal statute.
The county board passed the measure 4-0, with one member absent. Funds will flow through ArlingtonThrive, a social safety-net ministry, in amounts of up to $2,000 per affected family.
The program emerged in the wake of an ICE operation across Maryland and Virginia that netted 1,328 arrests.
Arlington County Board Chairman Matt de Ferranti, a Democrat from Rock Spring, told local press the county is "valuing the families of those that have been displaced and removed." County Manager Mark Schwartz's acknowledgment to ARLNow that many recipient families are "unbanked," meaning they lack access to financial institutions that require identification to open accounts, drew immediate attention from critics.
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