In recent weeks, the federal government has been criticized for allocating FEMA money to illegal aliens seeking shelter rather than saving it for Americans displaced by hurricanes. But Michiganders should know that their state government is doing the same thing.

The Michigan “Newcomer Rental Subsidy” gives Michigan taxpayers’ money to aliens to help pay for housing while Michiganders—like many Americans—struggle to pay for basic necessities such as groceries, housing, and gas.

The subsidy offers rental assistance of up to $500 per month for up to a year to immigrants, including illegal aliens.

The Office of Global Michigan defends this program, stating that “many refugees and other newcomers face critical housing challenges, and this program will increase access to better and more affordable housing opportunities.” While that may be true, thousands of Michiganders also face the same challenges. Who is helping them?

The homeless population in Michigan in 2024 is over 8,000 people, approximately 500 of whom are veterans. Yet homeless Michigan residents are not eligible for this rental subsidy. Yes, Michigan does have a program that provides “short-term residential care and treatment to eligible veterans,” but that program could be improved and expanded if the Newcomer Rental Subsidy wasn’t pulling precious time and resources away from citizens of Michigan who desperately need them.

It isn’t just the homeless who can’t find housing, either. The average cost of rent in Michigan has risen from $1,150 per month in 2020 to over$1,400 per month in 2024. The cost of homes has also increased exponentially over the last four years. In 2020, homes on average cost around $180,000 in Michigan, and in 2024 homes on average cost nearly $250,000. In a time of record inflation due to the devastating policies and spending of the Biden-Harris administration, Michigan is diverting its limited funds to provide relief for noncitizens before its own citizens.

However, even those sympathetic to refugees should remember that aliens with far less lawful immigration status than foreign nationals granted refugee protection are eligible for the rental subsidy. For example, aliens with a pending asylum application may apply for a housing subsidy.

Unfortunately, aliens frequently submit fraudulent asylum applications because they are free. Submitting provides them with other benefits, including a work authorization document and years living in the United States because of millions of backlogged cases in the immigration courts and at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Allowing mere asylum applicants, rather than requiring an alien to have been granted asylum beforehand, to receive this benefit is a clear waste of Michigan and U.S. taxpayer money.

Michigan also provides the housing subsidy to aliens the Biden-Harris administration unlawfully and unconstitutionally mass-paroled into the U.S. through defrauded programs. For example, USCIS found in a recent internal report that the administration approved thousands of parole sponsors in the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan parole programs without adequate vetting. This resulted in thousands of applications having fake Social Security numbers and nearly 20,000 applications having the same 100 physical addresses listed, among many other problems.

Michigan should prioritize housing subsidies for U.S. citizens first, then entirely lawful immigrants second. Illegal aliens shouldn’t be receiving housing subsidies at all.

At a time when Americans face record inflation and struggle to pay for housing and put food on the table, it is time for Michigan to stop putting noncitizens first.