Massive taxpayer subsidies are paid out to nonprofits for “free” lawyers for illegal aliens.
The Minnesota Star Tribune reports,
‘Up to our eyeballs’: Immigration lawyers struggle to keep up during Trump’s crackdown
The Star Tribune continues,
“We are up to our eyeballs,” said Yasin Alsaidi, deputy director of Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid’s work in St. Cloud and Willmar.
The nonprofit is one of three in Minnesota that provide free legal services to immigrants. Lawyers at all three organizations are juggling up to 100 cases at a time and have long wait lists.
Don’t worry, the problem isn’t money. They have plenty of that, courtesy of you, the taxpayer. To be clear, in immigration cases, illegal aliens are not entitled to a lawyer, but can be represented by lawyers, if they wish.
Mid-Minnesota Legal Assistance (MMLA) has offices in Minneapolis, St. Cloud, and Willmar. Immigration is just one of many services provided by the nonprofit.
According to its most recent financial audit (calendar year 2024) the nonprofit showed total revenue of $25.6 million.
Of that amount, $18.6 million (over 70 percent) came from government (taxpayers). Federal taxpayers chipped in $4.3 million.
Perhaps most galling was a 2024 grant of $181,000 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) bureau. It’ would appear that DHS was working against its own interests.
By far the largest contributor to Mid-Minnesota was the state judicial branch, which contributed $12 million from various funds.
Here’s the state contribution from the past five completed fiscal years, totaling more than $31 million.
Specific to immigrants, Hennepin County donated $173,000 for “defending immigrants.” The City of Minneapolis donated $97,000 to the immigration program at the nonprofit last year.
Your tax dollars at work!
