Report: More than half of immigrants on welfare

[William R]

More than half of the nation's immigrants receive some kind of government welfare, a figure that's far higher than the native-born population, according to a report to be released Wednesday.

About 51% of immigrant-led households receive at least one kind of welfare benefit, including Medicaid, food stamps, school lunches and housing assistance, compared to 30% for native-led households, according to the report from the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates for lower levels of immigration.

Those numbers increase for households with children, with 76% of immigrant-led households receiving welfare, compared to 52% for the native-born.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/09/01/immigrant-welfare-use-report/71517072/


The rise of Trump and the decline of Bush. In 2009-10 Rand had it right!!

I know the solution. Lets just end border enforcement!!

[Gaudius]

More than half of the nation's immigrants receive some kind of government welfare, a figure that's far higher than the native-born population, according to a report to be released Wednesday. About 51% of immigrant-led households receive at least one kind of welfare benefit, including Medicaid, food stamps, school lunches and housing assistance, compared to 30% for native-led households, according to the report from the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates for lower levels of immigration. Those numbers increase for households with children, with 76% of immigrant-led households receiving welfare, compared to 52% for the native-born. I know the solution. Lets just end border enforcement!!
The next president has to pursue rational economical politics encouraging investments and production in the USA that both the domestic market and the world markets want and to a price/quality that is better than USA's competitors. If so, many poor people will get a decent job. Mugging the rich by the initiation of force is not the answer because it undermines the incitement to make efforts and investments. In this way persons on welfare may get a decent job.

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Rational gaudism - The Philosophy of Reason, Liberty and Maximization of Self-Happiness (http://rgaud.com/english.htm)

[angelatc]

Any candidate that wants to win is going to need a steel spine to successfully carry a message of the promise of economic prosperity under the weight of all the feels the left media is going to weigh him down with.

30% of Americans getting public assistance. And the liberals consider that the sign of a successful nation.

[William R]

The next president has to pursue rational economical politics encouraging investments and production in the USA that both the domestic market and the world markets want and to a price/quality that is better than USA's competitors. If so, many poor people will get a decent job. Mugging the rich by the initiation of force is not the answer because it undermines the incitement to make efforts and investments. In this way persons on welfare may get a decent job.

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __

Rational gaudism - The Philosophy of Reason, Liberty and Maximization of Self-Happiness (http://rgaud.com/english.htm)


We need to stop the illegal flow, end birthright citizenship and start enforcing the law. The labor market is so tilted towards employers those on the bottom aren't getting a fair deal. This massive flow of illegal immigration hurts the working poor and working class people

[thoughtomator]

I predict this thread will be remarkable by the absence of interest by the cheap-labor thieves' guild.

[Sola_Fide]

We need to stop the illegal flow, end birthright citizenship and start enforcing the law. The labor market is so tilted towards employers those on the bottom aren't getting a fair deal. This massive flow of illegal immigration hurts the working poor and working class people

No. That is completely wrong. We need to end entitlements and eliminate immigration laws.

Then the problem will fix itself.

If you are a libertarian, you don't promote a government solution to a government-created problem. You attack the government-created problem first.

[tod evans]

No. That is completely wrong. We need to end entitlements and eliminate immigration laws.

Then the problem will fix itself.

If you are a libertarian, you don't promote a government solution to a government-created problem. You attack the government-created problem first.

I'm not a libertarian and I'm all for cutting government and her problems off at the knees...

[DevilsAdvocate]

Of course, bring them in, put them on benefits, BOOM! Permanent Democrat voter

[Brian4Liberty]

If you are "libertarian", you know that the welfare state and the open migration state are incompatible. The welfare state must end first.

[Gaudius]

We need to stop the illegal flow, end birthright citizenship and start enforcing the law. The labor market is so tilted towards employers those on the bottom aren't getting a fair deal. This massive flow of illegal immigration hurts the working poor and working class people
But this would mean initiation of force against both immigrants and their employers - it does not seem to be good libertarian politics.

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __

Rational gaudism - The Philosophy of Reason, Liberty and Maximization of Self-Happiness (http://rgaud.com/english.htm)

[Sola_Fide]

I'm not a libertarian and I'm all for cutting government and her problems off at the knees...

Well I'm on board with that too. Creating a more entrenched police state to deport "illegals" and terrorize and surveil free people is not the answer. The problem is entitlements and government programs. Attack them and the problem goes away.

[Acala]

We need to stop the illegal flow, end birthright citizenship and start enforcing the law. The labor market is so tilted towards employers those on the bottom aren't getting a fair deal. This massive flow of illegal immigration hurts the working poor and working class people

As has been said before, any American having a hard time competing in the job market with immigrants, the majority of whom have no skills and don't speak the language, should focus on beefing up his own skills rather than trying to eliminate the pathetic competition with laws.

[tod evans]

Well I'm on board with that too. Creating a more entrenched police state to deport "illegals" and terrorize and surveil free people is not the answer. The problem is entitlements and government programs. Attack them and the problem goes away.

Quickest way to implement that change is to fire the government employees involved, heck I'm for not only firing the current ones but I'd like to see the pensions of the retired ones ended too......

[Zippyjuan]

More than half of the nation's immigrants receive some kind of government welfare, a figure that's far higher than the native-born population, according to a report to be released Wednesday.

About 51% of immigrant-led households receive at least one kind of welfare benefit, including Medicaid, food stamps, school lunches and housing assistance, compared to 30% for native-led households, according to the report from the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates for lower levels of immigration.

Those numbers increase for households with children, with 76% of immigrant-led households receiving welfare, compared to 52% for the native-born.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/09/01/immigrant-welfare-use-report/71517072/


The rise of Trump and the decline of Bush. In 2009-10 Rand had it right!!

I know the solution. Lets just end border enforcement!!

A couple of things. First- this is all immigrants which includes legal US citizens- not just illegal immigrants. "On welfare" means that at least one person in the household received some sort of government benefit. If it is a family of five and one of the kids gets a free or reduced lunch at school- it counts as five people receiving "welfare". If this family of five has a grannie on Social Security living with them, all five are counted as "on welfare".

Article also notes:


Chavez said today's immigrants, like all other immigrant waves in the country's history, start off poorer and have lower levels of education, making it unfair to compare their welfare use to the long-established native-born population. She said immigrants have larger households, making it more likely that one person in that household will receive some kind of welfare benefit. And she said many benefits counted in the study are going to U.S.-born children of immigrants, skewing the findings even more.

"When you take all of those issues into account, (the report) is less worrisome," she said.

Chavez, president of the Becoming American Institute, a conservative group that advocates for higher levels of legal immigration to reduce illegal immigration, said politicians should be careful about using the data. Rather than focus on the fact that immigrants are initially more dependent on welfare than the U.S.-born, she said they should focus on studies that show what happens to the children of those immigrants.

"These kids who get subsidized school lunches today will go on to graduate high school ... will go on to college and move up to the middle class of America," Chavez said. "Every time we have a nativist backlash in our history, we forget that we see immigrants change very rapidly in the second generation."


Other findings in the report:

Immigrants are more likely to be working than their native-born neighbors. The report found that 87% of immigrant households had at least one worker, compared to 76% for native households.

The majority of immigrants using welfare come from Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. The use of welfare is lower for immigrants from East Asia (32%), Europe (26%) and South Asia (17%).

Immigrants who have been in the U.S. more than 20 years use welfare less often, but their rates remain higher than native-born households.

[thoughtomator]

The thing I love about Zippy is his reliability. He's like a compass that always points South - perversely useful because you know he will always be arguing for the opposite of what is just and true. If you are unsure of what position is the right one on any given topic, check Zippy's posts - then do the thing he desperately does not want to see happen.

[Rothbardian Girl]

Couple things I have to question about the study.

Zippy hit at one of the first ones - there is almost certainly some selection bias going on. From the authors of the study:
Illegal immigrants are included in the SIPP. In a forthcoming report, we will estimate welfare use for immigrants by legal status. However, it is clear that the overwhelming majority of immigrant households using welfare are headed by legal immigrants.

Secondly, the key here is "receive at least one type of welfare benefit." Why should that be the metric for "being on welfare?" How is "welfare benefit" being defined here? How much of the benefit do you have to use to be considered "on welfare"? i.e., is something like public education being considered a welfare benefit? The fact that the findings of the study are being presented this way without any actual data on short and long-term costs is reason to be skeptical.

Furthermore, this is a "snapshot" report, meaning a cross-sectional study. These sorts of studies are deeply flawed. A more useful study might be - what are the long-term trends for immigrant welfare recipients? It's well-known that natives tend to receive benefits over the long term. Another clue as to the potential problems with this study is that it contradicts the majority of longitudinal studies (see http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/irb_august2010.pdf for a brief overview and sources), which show that immigrants have a higher labor force participation rate and a lower utilization of most public welfare programs. This is pretty well-agreed on by economists from across the political spectrum. Also see this book (http://www.amazon.com/The-Economics-Immigration-Market-Based-Approaches/dp/0190258780) for more information.

[Acala]

The thing I love about Zippy is his reliability. He's like a compass that always points South - perversely useful because you know he will always be arguing for the opposite of what is just and true. If you are unsure of what position is the right one on any given topic, check Zippy's posts - then do the thing he desperately does not want to see happen.


This comment ^ makes not a single point to counter what Zippy posted. I am sure you can do better.

[thoughtomator]

This comment ^ makes not a single point to counter what Zippy posted. I am sure you can do better.

I can, but I've long since come to the understanding that any time spent taking Zippy seriously is wasted.

[Ronin Truth]

What percentage of US citizens are on welfare?

[Acala]

What percentage of US citizens are on welfare?

Probably 100% of WWII, Korean war, and Vietnam war vets are on welfare by this analysis.

[Acala]

I can, but I've long since come to the understanding that any time spent taking Zippy seriously is wasted.

So why bother posting at all just to lob a meaningless insult? It's weak.

[RonPaulMall]

All immigrants should be required to prove self sufficiency before being granted a green card. This is a no brainer.

[TheCount]

All people living in the same house as a citizen over the age of 66 are on welfare by this standard. Clearly, the elderly should be deported.

[Dianne]

All immigrants should be required to prove self sufficiency before being granted a green card. This is a no brainer.

That is the way it is for legal immigrants. They must have two people vouch for them, sign a contract, that if the individual coming into the U.S. falls on hard times financially... those people will financially subsidize them.

What this chit with Mexico, I will never understand, other then it is United Nations generated. So, that leads me to believe that most of those millions crossing the Mexico border are not Mexicans, but UN refugees from terrorist prone countries. Wherever they are coming from, they immediately receive full U.S. Citizen benefits. If you cross to Mexico, you immediately receive buckshot up the ass.

[phill4paul]

Just remember..it's the fault of the immigrants. Not your government.

[puppetmaster]

Just remember..it's the fault of the immigrants. Not your government. either way it is not right.

[LibertyEagle]

That is the way it is for legal immigrants. They must have two people vouch for them, sign a contract, that if the individual coming into the U.S. falls on hard times financially... those people will financially subsidize them.

What this chit with Mexico, I will never understand, other then it is United Nations generated. So, that leads me to believe that most of those millions crossing the Mexico border are not Mexicans, but UN refugees from terrorist prone countries. Wherever they are coming from, they immediately receive full U.S. Citizen benefits. If you cross to Mexico, you immediately receive buckshot up the ass.

Wait. So, besides free education and free healthcare, they can apply for welfare, SS disability, etc?

[thoughtomator]

So why bother posting at all just to lob a meaningless insult? It's weak.

It's fun.

[thoughtomator]

Just remember..it's the fault of the immigrants. Not your government.

The immigrants are a weapon being used by the government against us.

[Acala]

It's fun.

That was the only response I could accept. :D

[TheCount]

Wait. So, besides free education and free healthcare, they can apply for welfare, SS disability, etc?

No.

[ZENemy]

Stop the theft at its source (taxes) and the rest will work out.

[RonPaulGeorge&Ringo]

Wait. So, besides free education and free healthcare, they can apply for welfare, SS disability, etc?

It's illegal, but yes, they can apply. It helps if they can buy fake IDs & SSNs first. Whether they get the benefits is largely a function of who is working at the local federal building. It's easier to get on the rolls in Los Angeles than in Maine.