Wisconsin GOP challenger's ad falsely claims Dem US Senator 'gave stimulus checks to illegals'

The U.S. Senate race in Wisconsin is heating up as the November election draws near, with a flurry of news releases and campaign ads from incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Republican challenger Eric Hovde. 

One Hovde ad in particular caught our attention: an interview featuring a man and woman saying Baldwin "gave stimulus checks to illegals." 

Let’s take a look at this claim’s truthfulness.

When asked to support the claim, Hovde spokesman Zach Bannon pointed to a proposed amendment to the fiscal year 2021 budget.

"When creating the FY2021 budget, which included stimulus checks to Americans suffering from COVID-19 and lockdowns, Senators (Todd) Young (R-Ind.) and (Tom) Cotton (R-Ark.) proposed an amendment ‘preventing legislation that would allow illegal immigrants to receive Economic Impact Payments or any other similar direct, tax-based temporary financial assistance,’" Bannon said in an email to PolitiFact Wisconsin. 

Bannon noted the amendment "ensuring taxpayer dollars would not be sent to illegal immigrants," was supported by 58 senators, including eight Democrats. 

"Senator Baldwin was among the 42 Democrats who voted against the amendment," Bannon said. 

According to the U.S. Senate Roll Call page on the measure, a vote was taken Feb. 4, 2021, and totals were 58 yes and 42 no votes, and yes, Baldwin was among the no voters. 

But it is a stretch to claim voting against a measure aimed at preventing illegal immigrants from receiving economic impact payments is the same as actually giving "stimulus checks to illegals."

There is a long list of debunked claims related to stimulus checks going to illegal immigrants. Here is a sampling:

• Sept. 4, 2024: PolitiFact rated Republican claims that U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, voted to give immigrants in the country illegally stimulus checks False.

•  Sept. 6, 2024: PolitiFact rated Republican claims that U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., voted to give immigrants in the country illegally stimulus checks False.

• May 2, 2022: PolitiFact rated Republican claims that U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., voted to give immigrants in the country illegally stimulus checks False.

• April 2, 2021: Reuters rated claims that immigrants in the country illegally were eligible for stimulus checks False. 

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• March 17, 2021: USA Today rated Republican claims that immigrants in the country illegally would receive stimulus checks Partly False. 

Baldwin’s office pointed out that immigrants in the country illegally were not eligible for stimulus checks under the American Rescue Plan. The American Rescue Plan required people receiving stimulus checks to have valid Social Security numbers.

Michael Wagner, director of the Center for Communication and Civic Renewal and professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said voting against the Young/Cotton amendment is not tantamount to supporting "giving stimulus checks" to nonresident immigrants.

"Stimulus checks only went to people with a Social Security number," Wagner said in an email to PolitiFact Wisconsin. "Some noncitizens legally employed by DHS can get a Social Security number, and a small number of people in the U.S. on legal temporary working visas may also have been eligible for stimulus checks."

Wagner said it is theoretically possible that a very small number of people overstayed their work visas and received checks, but that’s not at all close to what the ad is trying to lead voters to conclude. 

"The ad is consistent with extremist rhetoric occurring along the campaign trail from former President Trump and Mr. Hovde about immigrants to the United States," Wagner said. 

A Hovde campaign ad features a man and woman saying Baldwin "gave stimulus checks to illegals." 

But people in the country illegally were not eligible for the checks, and the checks went only to people with Social Security numbers. 

We rate the claim False.