Millions in aid from small business relief fund went to “hate groups”

At least 10 groups with a history of making anti-Black, anti-LGBTQ or anti-immigrant statements received loans from the government’s small business coronavirus relief fund. 

The Center for Immigration Studies, for instance, a Washington, D.C.-based organization described as a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, got as much as $1 million from the Paycheck Protection Program, with the loan made by United Bank. The Southern Poverty Law Center in 2017 documented more than 2,000 instances in which the Center for Immigration Studies “circulated the writings of white nationalists and antisemitic writers.”

The 10 policy groups received a total of as much as $10 million in assistance from the Paycheck Protection Program. Eight of those groups are identified as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. 

Another group is headed by James Dobson, whom Southern Poverty Law Center has said “is well known for his anti-LGBT views,” claiming that homosexuals will “destroy the earth.” 

A tenth group, Concerned Women for America, has called allowing same-sex couples to raise children unconstitutional, according to pro-LGBTQ rights organization Human Rights Campaign.

The publicly subsidized funding of what are often described as hate groups underscores the criticism that the hastily enacted Paycheck Protection Program lacked safeguards to ensure an equitable distribution of funds, especially to what many people would view as traditional for-profit small businesses. Among those who struggled to gain access to PPP loans are black and Hispanic business owners, with a survey finding that only 12% of such applicants received the forgivable low-interest loans, according to a survey from racial equality groups Color of Change and UnidosUS. 

“The Trump administration designed a program that largely excludes minority owned small businesses but left the door open to taxpayer funds propping up hate groups,” said Kyle Herrig, the president of Accountable.US, a group that advocates against government corruption and waste. “That’s indefensible.” 

The Paycheck Protection Program, run by the U.S. Small Business Administration, was passed by Congress to help all kinds of small employers survive the crushing impact of the coronavirus pandemic, providing $660 billion in loans that charge just 1% interest. Nonprofits, as long as they have fewer than 500 employees, were allowed to apply for the loans as well, just as for-profits with fewer than 500 employees could. The government loans are completely forgivable, including interest, if the majority of the funds is directed toward paying employees.

The SBA earlier this week released a list of…