WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is expected to issue a proposal in coming weeks that would make it harder for legal immigrants to become citizens or get green cards if they have ever used a range of popular public welfare programs, including Obamacare, four sources with knowledge of the plan told NBC News.
The move, which would not need congressional approval, is part of White House senior adviser Stephen Miller's plan to limit the number of migrants who obtain legal status in the U.S. each year.
Details of the rulemaking proposal are still being finalized, but based on a recent draft seen last week and described to NBC News, immigrants living legally in the U.S. who have ever used or whose household members have ever used Obamacare, children's health insurance, food stamps and other benefits could be hindered from obtaining legal status in the U.S.
Immigration lawyers and advocates and public health researchers say it would be the biggest change to the legal immigration system in decades and estimate that more than 20 million immigrants could be affected. They say it would fall particularly hard on immigrants working jobs that don't pay enough to support their families.
This doesn't make sense. I thought immigrants are Magic(TM) and they supercharge our economy. If 20 million of them are so poor they go on welfare, how can this be? Something doesn't smell right.
Poor immigrants are the least likely group to use welfare, despite Trump’s claims
By Alexia Fernández Campbell@AlexiaCampbellalexia@vox.com Aug 4, 2017, 4:10pm EDT
The Trump administration and several House Republicans have made it clear that poor immigrants are not welcome in the United States. They blame uneducated, unskilled newcomers for a host of social and economic problems — such as taking away blue-collar jobs from Americans and burdening taxpayers. And they accuse the current immigration system of letting in immigrants who mooch off the welfare state.
"They're not going to come in and just immediately go and collect welfare," Trump said during a press conference this week.
But the idea that immigrants come to America to live off the government is wrong. The vast majority of new immigrants are not eligible for welfare. Even green card holders must wait for years to get most benefits. The United States already rejects applications from potential immigrants who could end up on government assistance — people who aren't financially stable can't even get tourist visas. And research shows that poor, uneducated immigrants are the least likely group to use welfare.
Still, the RAISE Act, introduced this week by two House Republicans, would slash the flow of legal immigration and favor those who can "stand on their own two feet, and pay taxes, and not receive welfare." It would also cap the number of refugees allowed into the country, and would prioritize high-skilled, affluent immigrants who speak English.
To garner support for such a measure, the White House made several false claims about immigrants and their impact on the welfare system:
"The RAISE Act prevents new migrants and new immigrants from collecting welfare … they're not going to come in and just immediately go and collect welfare." —President Donald Trump
The new bill doesn't do much more than current laws do to prevent immigrants from collecting welfare — in large part because it's actually quite hard for immigrants to get public assistance.
Depending on the state, undocumented immigrants, DACA immigrants (a.k.a. DREAMers), H-1B workers, and other temporary workers can immediately apply for food assistance available for pregnant women, and in most states, free or reduced-price lunches for kids in school are provided regardless of immigration status.
But these immigrants do not qualify for the vast majority of public benefits — including food stamps, Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. That’s true even though undocumented immigrants contribute billions of dollars to these programs.
Even green card holders, who are permanent residents of the US, have to wait five years to qualify for nearly all social welfare programs. There are a few exceptions, including immigrants who served in the US military or are disabled.
The only groups of newcomers who can enter the United States and immediately receive social assistance are refugees and asylum seekers. Even then, some benefits —like cash assistance — require refugees to work to continue receiving the benefit.
"Every year we issue a million green cards to foreign nationals from all the countries of the world, but we do so without regard to … whether they can pay their own way or be reliant on welfare." — Stephen Miller, senior adviser to the president
This is blatantly false. Financial stability is a key factor when US Citizenship and Immigration Services makes decisions about awarding green cards.
As part of the process, USCIS staff must determine whether or not a green card applicant will become a public charge — someone who is primarily dependent on the government to survive. If they are considered likely to become a public charge, they will be denied a green card.
The Trump administration also blasted the current system for giving a majority of green cards to people based on their family ties to the United States, instead of focusing on their skill level. Trump implied that letting in relatives is a burden to American taxpayers who may have to support them. But they are not. As part of the petition to get a relative a green card, the US-based immigrants must show that they will be financially responsible for their family member.
It's a pretty strict requirement. Whoever petitions for the visa has to report their own income and assets. If the amount isn't enough to keep the family out of poverty, the petition will be rejected.
"It has cost taxpayers enormously because roughly half of immigrant head of households in the United States receive some type of welfare benefit." —Stephen Miller, senior adviser to the president
This statement, while technically accurate, is based on misleading research. A 2015 report by the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for limited immigration, concluded that 50 percent of immigrant-led households used at least one public benefit, compared to 30 percent of American-led households.
But as researchers at the libertarian Cato Institute point out, the main reason for the difference is that immigrant households tend to be larger than American households, and are therefore more likely to have children, including American-born children who are eligible for some benefits.
To get a more accurate picture of welfare use, researchers need to compare individuals, not households. Using the same data, Cato researchers controlled for education levels, family size and income to see whether immigrants were more likely to use welfare benefits than non-immigrants in similar scenarios.
Their results were more nuanced. Overall, poor immigrant households use less welfare than poor American households. Broken down by race, Latino and black immigrant households "massively underconsume" welfare compared to their American counterparts. White and Asian immigrant households, on the other hand, consume more welfare than their American counterparts.
When it came to education levels, households led by an immigrant with less than a high school education ended up using fewer welfare benefits than American households with the same education level. For every other level of education, immigrant-headed households ended up using more welfare than Americans in the same education bracket.
If there is anything the data shows, it's that poor, unskilled immigrants are the least likely people to end up on welfare — the opposite of what Trump is claiming.
Date: August 7th, 2018 11:31 AM Author: Frozen erotic lay
"Using the same data, Cato researchers controlled for education levels, family size and income to see whether immigrants were more likely to use welfare benefits than non-immigrants in similar scenarios."
Libs are trying to argue "immigrants in similar economic circumstances are less likely to use welfare than natives" The obvious counter-argument is "why are we letting large numbers of immigrants in shitty economic circumstances into are country to begin with?"
You know Japan's per capita gdp has been going up almost the entire time tjeir population has been declining, right?
And those shit service jobs immigrants take (when they work at all) should be automated out of existence. There is no good reason to make citizens out of people who have to rely on those kinds of jobs anyway.
Date: August 7th, 2018 11:34 AM Author: french well-lubricated forum
""It has cost taxpayers enormously because roughly half of immigrant head of households in the United States receive some type of welfare benefit." —Stephen Miller, senior adviser to the president
This statement, while technically accurate, is based on misleading research. A 2015 report by the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for limited immigration, concluded that 50 percent of immigrant-led households used at least one public benefit, compared to 30 percent of American-led households.
But as researchers at the libertarian Cato Institute point out, the main reason for the difference is that immigrant households tend to be larger than American households, and are therefore more likely to have children, including American-born children who are eligible for some benefits."
******
JFC, libs. And some still wonder why Trump calls our shit media "the enemy of the people."
Date: August 7th, 2018 11:39 AM Author: Motley Church Building
jfc
well u see the reason they consume more public resources per household is bc theee are MORE of them per household and if u question whether we want that, y r u such a bigot?
Date: August 7th, 2018 11:41 AM Author: Talented chapel multi-billionaire
"Yeah, they have a lot more children and consume more public resources, but they also buy more crap we import from China and increase GDP. Are you happy now, bigot?
Also, humans are destroying the environment and Trump doesn't care."
Date: August 7th, 2018 11:21 AM Author: sepia insane main people
not only are we going to open the floodgates once we're back in power, but we're going to incentivize immigrants to live in red states as retaliation for all of this bullshit
Date: August 7th, 2018 11:24 AM Author: orchid dragon
Yeah we should be limiting how many of those immigrants can be here and gain citizenship. We really don't need diversity so badly that we're importing and subsidizing families while Americans put off having kids until they're forty.
Date: August 7th, 2018 11:24 AM Author: glittery theater
Why is this article referencing three different types of people anonymously -immigration lawyers, advocates, and researchers - and how did they all come up with the 20 million figure?
Odd case.
"Immigration lawyers and advocates and public health researchers say it would be the biggest change to the legal immigration system in decades and estimate that more than 20 million immigrants could be affected."
Date: August 7th, 2018 11:29 AM Author: contagious tattoo
this is the reporters' way of hiding the fact that he's reading tweets. this is not a joke by the way, this is how journalism works in 2018. an immigration lawyer tweets something and it becomes "some immigration lawyers say..."
Date: August 7th, 2018 11:39 AM Author: sapphire fluffy boistinker
Principle seems reasonable, but I thought lots of people used Obamacare and it’s not really welfare. Like, don’t you have to use Obamacare if you don’t have an employer plan?
Date: August 7th, 2018 11:41 AM Author: Know-it-all boiling water hospital
CR. Also, I mean, if they are working at at fulltime jobs and are still dependent on say milk subsidies or something like that it seems unnecessarily broad to include them in the net.
Date: August 7th, 2018 11:51 AM Author: Frozen erotic lay
nobody here is backing GC. Half of us were libs that would like to take better care of the poor. But you can't take care of the ones you have when you are nonstop importing new ones.
Date: August 7th, 2018 12:13 PM Author: misanthropic market
i don't particularly have a burning desire to get into an economics debate with a thread full of raving autists
obviously my post was somewhat tongue in cheek, but to point to two racially homogeneous Nordic welfare states as the BUT ACTUALLY to the plain fact that capitalism necessarily creates stratification is ludicrous
Date: August 7th, 2018 12:18 PM Author: disgusting aromatic box office national security agency
Not obvious in the least bit that your post was tongue and cheek because you weren’t making the point that they were ethnically homogeneous at all. Your only point was that they weren’t capitalist societies, which is wrong.
Date: August 7th, 2018 12:20 PM Author: misanthropic market
you confessed about half an inch above this post that you thought i was joking. then you second guessed yourself because you're not sure if you read Engrish too good. sorry
Date: August 7th, 2018 12:28 PM Author: disgusting aromatic box office national security agency
Whatever you say. Fwiw your point that those societies are not a good proxy for how capitalism would operate everywhere due to their overwhelming ethnic homogeneity is correct though I wish the left would acknowledge the obvious takeaway that diversity is not a strength.
Date: August 7th, 2018 11:48 AM Author: Flesh Theatre Yarmulke
If the squat mayan spics democrats were flooding us with were as smart as the average trumpmo (white bros) we’d be in much better shape. IQ is not distributed evenly between races, sorry lib.
Date: August 7th, 2018 11:47 AM Author: french well-lubricated forum
What else would we expect?
But seriously, there is a 0% chance the proposal is going to apply to every immigrant who bought health care on an Obamacare exchange. Zero percent chance.
Date: August 7th, 2018 11:56 AM Author: histrionic party of the first part pozpig
Do you low IQ Trumptards realize the precedent you are setting here? It's not long til you are no longer a majority and then we'll see how you get paid back. Demonizing and scapegoating immigrants is something Hitler would do. The stereotypes of top MBA students are pretty ridiculous. The Wharton MBAs I met during admit weekend were smart, cool, interesting, and down to earth, for the most part. There were a few douches, but in a class of around 850 students it's very easy to avoid them. I have no doubt that I will make a lot of lifelong friends, cultivate deep meaningful relationships, and have a lot of fun during my time there.
Date: August 7th, 2018 1:20 PM Author: lake disrespectful private investor
Shitlib here, and I'd be fine with this if it wasn't for the retrospective aspect of it. The President himself admits to using shitty laws on the books for his professional advantage because he'd be a fool not to. Why retrospectively punish legal immigrants using the system legally?
Date: August 7th, 2018 3:52 PM Author: Very Tactful Transparent Preventive Strike
Deportation is not a punishment. There is no right for foreigners to permanently live in the US. Ideally all should be repatriated but starting with poors seems reasonable.
Date: August 8th, 2018 1:06 AM Author: House-broken aphrodisiac hall
How does using the existing laws, forbid retroactive enforcement of the law? This is a 19th century view. Until your rights are guaranteed by the Constitution, they aren't shit if Congress or the executive branch makes other laws.
Date: August 7th, 2018 5:32 PM Author: vivacious cordovan circlehead
This is basically already the law, although it’s completely meaningless becaause it can be satisfied by some affidavit of support from a relative who has no actual financial ability to support.
Date: August 7th, 2018 8:22 PM Author: violet meetinghouse
*POTUS is enjoined by Hawaii judge to hand-deliver a cake and apology note to every person who was temporarily affected by this before Hawaii judge's heroic galaxy-wide injunction*
*Trump refuses*
Conservatism Inc: this president's rejection of the rule of law is just appalling!