immigration and welfare
FEARS:
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One of the most historical fears of immigration is that as foreign populations move into America, these immigrants will leech resources away from native-born Americans (the assumption being that native Americans are more "worthy" of limited resources). This fear--of "immigrants on welfare" taking from taxpayers--is not born out of the modern welfare state, but rather the broken record mantra of American anti-immigration advocate history.
"What means the paying of the passage and emptying out upon our shores such floods of pauper emigrants--the contents of the poor house and the sweepings of the streets?--multiplying tumults and violence, filling our prisons, and crowding our poor-houses, and quadrupling our taxation..." --Lyman Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe's father, warning of English immigration in 1834 "Clearly, strong action must be taken at the local and federal level to end these abuses... Every dollar wrongly spent is a dollar wrongly taken straight from the pocket of a dutiful working American." --Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, chairman of a Senate immigration subcommittee, October 2015 This issue of immigrants on welfare continues to be a topic of great discussion and debate, especially today. Although there is some controversy, for the most part most reputable organizations agree that immigrants--both legal and illegal--contribute far more to America than they take.
"They are paying an estimated $15 billion a year into Social Security with no intention of ever collecting benefits... Without the estimated 3.1 million undocumented immigrants paying into the system, Social Security would have entered persistent shortfall of tax revenue to cover payouts starting in 2009." --Stephen Goss, chief actuary of the SSA to CNNMoney That being said, several reputable sources such as USA Today also claim that when it comes to government welfare, America's immigrants are more of a toll on these systems than liberals would like to admit. "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's. 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." --USA Today This data comes from a report from the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates for lower levels of immigration. Ultimately, more research is needed in order to come to a consensus on the effects immigrants have on government welfare and other social systems. |