Consumer and civil rights groups last week told the Trump administration that their proposed “reforms” of the FCC’s Lifeline program would undermine efforts to ensure equitable, affordable access to the internet for all Americans, and are based on lies about immigrant fraud.

Last January, the Trump FCC under Brendan Carr proposed a series of “reforms” to the agency’s Lifeline program, which, as part of the broader bipartisan Universal Service Fund (USF) program, provides qualifying low-income US households with a modest $9.25 monthly subsidy for telecom services (which jumps to $34.25 for tribal homes).

At the time, Carr insisted that the reforms were necessary to improve government efficiency.

“The FCC has an obligation to be a good steward of federal dollars,” Carr said in a prepared statement. “And that is why the agency will be taking a comprehensive look at the FCC’s nearly $1 billion dollar a year Lifeline program, which subsidizes phone and Internet services for low-income Americans.”

To further sell his pitch, Carr made the false claim that the program was somehow awash with illegal immigrants who were exploiting U.S. taxpayers. To “prove” his claim, Carr stated that more than $5 million in Lifeline money funded 116,000 dead people across three states, with the heaviest “fraud” occurring in California.

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“Over 80% of those scams took place in California alone,” Carr said. “That type of waste, fraud, and abuse is completely unacceptable. It should go without saying that only beneficiaries that are both living and here legally should qualify for benefits under this program,” Carr said.