McRae: America First Unclaimed Money Program
By Treasurer David McRae
For the first time in the country, a state’s unclaimed money program is putting the America First agenda into action – not as a talking point, but as a matter of policy. More specifically, this month, I announced the State Treasury would be requiring all unclaimed money recipients to declare their citizenship before beginning the claims process.
For four years, the Biden-Harris administration opened our borders, allowing millions of illegal immigrants to flood across our borders and take up residency in states across the country, including here in Mississippi. In fact, the Auditor’s Office reports about 22,000 illegals are in the Magnolia State today.
As a result, I felt it was necessary to make sure Mississippians and American citizens were served first by the State Treasury.
There are a few reasons for this. First, it is a matter of principle. It is Mississippi taxpayers that I work for and Mississippi taxpayers who pay the salaries of each member of my team. As such, it is our duty to serve them first and foremost.
Second, it is a matter of practicality. To validate claimant identities, the Treasury uses Social Security numbers, addresses, drivers’ licenses, and other forms of identification often tied to American citizenship and verified by cross-referencing domestic databases.
Should an illegal (or any foreign national) make a claim on cash, my team must undertake a rigorous verification process that takes significantly more time and resources than a claim made by a citizen. Given that we have a small (albeit mighty) team, it’s important that we prioritize claims in the most efficient manner possible. Asking one’s citizenship helps us accomplish that.
Good policies, like this, have helped me and my team deliver real results time and again. In total, we have returned nearly $150 million in unclaimed money – a record-breaking amount. That’s a massive infusion of capital back into our state’s economy without costing taxpayers a penny.
In addition to that, we have earned the state $1 billion in interest income (again, a record-breaking amount) and turned the College Savings program’s finances right side up, taking it from being 72 percent funded when I first came to office to solvency today.
Much of this has been accomplished by delivering a number of state “firsts.” We were the first in Mississippi’s history to enable online claims. The first to conduct a proactive “money match.” The first to deliver unclaimed money checks to disaster areas – without those affected having to take action on their own. These firsts were all done with one thing in mind: Putting Mississippi First. Forever and always, that will be my mission. That will be my commitment to you.
Mississippi Treasurer David McRae is the 55th Treasurer for the State of Mississippi. In this role, he helps manage the state’s cash flow, oversees College and Career Savings Mississippi, and has returned more than $140 million in unclaimed money to Mississippians. For more information, visit Treasury.MS.gov.
