Judge Napolitano on Government advertising food stamps to Illegal Aliens

[LibertyEagle]

Judge Napolitano said it's "unfortunate," but the law states that benefits cannot be denied based on immigration status.

Judge Andrew Napolitano gave us his take this morning on the "outrageous" report that the federal government is actively advertising the food stamp program to illegal immigrants. In a flyer given to the Mexican embassy by the USDA, it highlights that "You need not divulge information regarding your immigration status in seeking this benefit for your children.

Read more: http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/04/29...#ixzz2RsoCVQTm

[Brian4Liberty]

So the Judge agrees that this is outrageous, but he says it is the law. Now it seems like he said that this policy was set by the Supreme Court. It would be nice to have the details. Did the law originally say that illegal immigrants couldn't get welfare, and the Supreme Court legislated that away from the bench?

[Zippyjuan]

An article from CATO on the subject from one year ago:

http://www.cato.org/publications/eco...ower-rate-poor

Poor Immigrants Use Public Benefits at a Lower Rate than Poor Native-Born Citizens

By Leighton Ku and Brian Bruen


March 4, 2013

Low-income immigrants use public benefits like Medicaid or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program) at a lower rate than low-income native-born citizens.1 Many immigrants are ineligible for public benefits because of their immigration status. Nonetheless, some claim that immigrants use more public benefits than the native born, creating a serious and unfair burden for citizens.2 This analysis provides updated analysis of immigrant and native-born utilization of Medicaid, SNAP, cash assistance (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and similar programs), and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program based on the most recent data from the Census Bureau’s March 2012 Current Population Survey (CPS).

Low-income (family income below 200% of poverty line) non-citizen children and adults utilize Medicaid, SNAP, cash assistance, and SSI at a generally lower rate than comparable low-income native-born citizen children and adults, and the average value of public benefits received per person is generally lower for non-citizens than for natives. Because of the lower benefit utilization rates and the lower average benefit value for low-income non-citizen immigrants, the cost of public benefits to non citizens is substantially less than the cost of equivalent benefits to the native-born.

Immigrant Eligibility for Public Assistance Benefits

Immigrants’ eligibility for public benefits is based on specific aspects of their immigration status and state policies.9 Some key elements of the rules are:
•Citizenship. Naturalized citizens and U.S.-born children in non-citizen families are citizens. They are fully eligible for public benefits like Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), SNAP, cash assistance, and SSI, if they meet other program eligibility criteria.10

•Refugees and Asylees. Immigrants granted refugee or asylee status are generally eligible for public benefits if they meet program eligibility criteria.

•Lawful Permanent Residents. Lawful permanent residents (LPRs) must wait at least five years before they are eligible for benefits, but states have the option of providing them earlier.11 After five years, LPRs are eligible for federal benefits if they meet the program eligibility criteria. As exceptions, LPR children have been eligible for SNAP benefits since 2003 and states have been able to restore Medicaid benefits for children and pregnant women since 2009.

•Temporary/Provisional Immigrants. Temporary immigrants (e.g., work or student visa holders) are generally ineligible for public benefits, including the youth who are categorized as “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.”

•Undocumented Immigrants. Undocumented immigrants are generally ineligible for the public assistance programs mentioned above

And from the Fox article on the flier: http://nation.foxnews.com/welfare/20...are-immigrants

Depending on your immigration status, length of time in the United States, and income, you may be eligible for some federal benefit programs,” the Web page reads.

Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/welfare/20...#ixzz2RtcSUiuC

It does NOT say that illegal immigrants or even all legal immigrants are elgible for welfare.

[Christian Liberty]

NOBODY should be eligible for these unconstitutional programs. If it takes the immigration boogeyman to deny them to a subset of the population, fine by me.

[asurfaholic]

This is really twisted. I did not agree to this social contract.