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An ad from Republican Bernie Moreno in a high-profile Senate race labels incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, responsible for giving federal benefits to immigrants in the country illegally.
"For nearly 50 years, politician Sherrod Brown helped create the crisis at our southern border," a narrator says with Brown鈥檚 picture overlaid on images of migrant caravans and a Times Square brawl between migrants and police, "voting with radicals like Kamala Harris to give illegals taxpayer-funded stimulus checks, health care, even Social Security, rewarding illegals. Sherrod Brown caused the crisis."
The ad also says Moreno, a businessman who has never held elected office, will secure the border and deport "illegals." It is part of a $25 million ad buy through Election Day that includes TV, streaming, radio, digital and mail, .
We asked the Moreno campaign for proof to back claims that Brown, elected to Congress in 1992 and to the Senate in 2006, voted to give federal benefits to immigrants in the country illegally. Moreno campaign spokesperson Reagan McCarthy cited votes Brown made in 2007, 2013 and 2021.
Moreno鈥檚 claims are similar to past statements we鈥檝e fact-checked and found misleading.
Immigrants in the country illegally for most federal benefits.
Let鈥檚 take these claims one by one.
Stimulus checks required Social Security numbers
McCarthy cited Brown鈥檚 March 6, 2021, vote to to the American Rescue Plan from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as proof Brown voted to give stimulus checks to immigrants in the country illegally.
The American Rescue Plan already excluded people in the country illegally from receiving stimulus checks by requiring Social Security numbers and excluding "any nonresident alien individual" from the program. The Cruz would have closed a potential loophole that may have allowed migrants who overstayed their temporary work visas from using their Social Security numbers to collect stimulus checks, Fact Checker.
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The National Republican Senatorial Committee against Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., in 2022. The , authored by Democrats and signed into law in 2021, to receive the benefits, for dependents who have an adoption taxpayer ID and people married to military members.
So, Brown鈥檚 vote against Cruz鈥檚 amendment did not enable people in the country illegally to receive stimulus checks.
Migrants do not qualify for federally subsidized health care
On March 23, 2013, to reject a budget bill amendment from then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., that would bar immigrants in the country illegally from qualifying for federally subsidized health care. Moreno鈥檚 portrayal of that vote, too, is misleading.
Migrants in the country illegally do not qualify for Medicaid or the Children鈥檚 Health Insurance Program and cannot purchase subsidized health insurance coverage through the government portal, .
The amendment was part of what is called a "." The Budget Act limits debate on budget measures to 50 hours, but does not set a time limit for the consideration of amendments to the bill during the budget reconciliation process. Lawmakers introduce a litany of amendments to delay voting on the final measure and force the opposition to vote on controversial subjects.
Steven Smith, political science professor emeritus and former director of the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government and Public Policy at Washington University in St. Louis, said the Sessions amendment would have had "no policy effect."
"Zero. Nada," Smith said by email. "Other legislation would have to be enacted into law for it to have any potential meaning."
Reconciliation bill amendments must be budget-related, Smith said. So, an amendment that barred immigrants in the country illegally from receiving benefits would not be in order.
Brown campaign spokesperson Matt Keyes said Brown from then-Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., the same day as the Sessions amendment reaffirming immigrants in the country illegally cannot receive federal benefits. That amendment passed by voice vote.
Social Security requires legal status
McCarthy, Moreno鈥檚 spokesperson, pointed to a July 19, 2007, quashing an amendment from then-Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., to the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. The would have prevented migrants who later earned legal status from receiving credit for paying into Social Security while they were in the country illegally. The amendment required a 60-vote threshold for consideration, but failed with only 57 in favor.
The bill would not have given Social Security benefits to immigrants who were in the country illegally. It would have changed the calculation for legal immigrants for their payment into the system before gaining legal status.
It is also not the full story. Ensign offered a similar amendment to an appropriations bill Oct. 23, 2007, which passed with , including Brown鈥檚.
Keyes added that Brown again voted June 26, 2013, on an amendment to an immigration bill that prevented immigrants in the country illegally from receiving Social Security for work done illegally.
Again, this is not the first time we鈥檝e checked a claim like this. Nevada Republican Sharron Angle made a nearly identical claim against then-Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., in 2010, by inaccurately describing what the amendment would have done and by not accounting for other votes.
Our ruling
Moreno said Brown voted to "give illegals taxpayer funded stimulus checks, health care, even Social Security."
The three votes Moreno鈥檚 campaign cited would not have provided any federal benefits to immigrants in the country illegally. The American Rescue Plan already barred them from receiving stimulus checks. Federal law already prohibited them from qualifying for Medicaid or the Children鈥檚 Health Insurance Program and barred them from buying insurance through the federal exchange.
Moreno also misleads on Brown鈥檚 vote regarding Social Security. The vote would not have granted benefits to immigrants who are in the country illegally, but would have changed the allocation from immigrants who later received legal status. Brown also voted later to approve nearly identical legislation to the one Moreno cited.
We rate the claim False.
PolitiFact journalists look for statements to fact-check through transcripts, speeches, news stories, press releases and campaign brochures. They developed the Truth-O-Meter to reflect the relative accuracy of a statement. The meter has six ratings, in decreasing level of truthfulness ranging from true to "pants on fire."
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Our Sources
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