Lawsuit: US citizens with immigrant spouses should get help

PHOENIX (AP) — The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund has sued the federal government over its denial of coronavirus relief payments to U.S. citizens who are married to immigrants without social security numbers.

The lawsuit was filed in Maryland on Tuesday on behalf of six American citizens who were denied coronavirus relief checks because they filed and paid taxes with a spouse who has what’s known as an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or a way for immigrants without legal status to still pay federal taxes, which millions do.

MALDEF says the Treasury Department is violating Americans' First and Fifth Amendments by denying them payment simply because of who they are married to. Congress last month passed a $2.2 trillion package to help businesses, workers and a health care system staggered by the coronavirus. Many Americans had their share deposited into their accounts in the last couple of weeks.

It’s estimated that 2 million U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents are married to people without social security numbers, although it’s unclear how many of them file jointly with them.

“All of the families are very much like other families in the U.S. They have children at home, they are facing contraction of the economy and they still have to pay their rent, and buy groceries and buy gas,” said Nina Perales, MALDEF’s vice president of litigation.

Christina Segundo-Hernandez, who lives in Fort Worth, Texas, is one of the plaintiffs in the case. Segundo-Hernandez is a U.S. citizen married to a Mexican immigrant who pays federal taxes through his ITIN. The couple, married eight years, file jointly each year. They’re both working fewer hours because of the coronavirus pandemic, and they’ve fallen behind on bills.

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