On 11/2/18 4:27 AM, citizen taxpayer wrote:
On 11/1/2018 8:25 PM, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 31 Oct 2018 08:23:45 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

Should babies born to illegal aliens be given birthright citizenship or
should it be ended?
Good question.


Years ago, immigrants came to the US to work and prosper.

Today, they don't come here to work, most come here for the free welfare
and healthcare. It's the best on the planet.



Dont Blame Immigrants for Bloated Welfare State

By Alex Nowrasteh and Robert Orr
This article appeared on the Washington Examiner on May 15, 2018.
The Trump administration is in the process of writing new regulations to
guarantee that certain immigrants wont consume too many welfare or
entitlement benefits. The welfare state is certainly a problem, but its
a home-grown one, not an imported one. Welfares benefits are too large
and too many people receive them. But the Trump administration should
not blame this problem on immigrants.

In fact, immigrants use fewer welfare and entitlement benefits in than
native-born Americans.

These were the results of a new study we produced for the Cato
Institute. We examined data from 2016 on programs for the poor, such as
Medicaid and food stamps, and also the entitlement programs of Social
Security and Medicare. The latter two are the largest portion of the
welfare state and twice as large as all welfare programs for the poor
combined. We found that immigrants use 39 percent fewer welfare and
entitlements benefits per person than native-born Americans. Immigrants
are less likely to use the individual programs in most cases and, when
they do, the benefits they receive tend to be smaller.

In fact, immigrants use fewer welfare and entitlement benefits in than
native-born Americans.
Social Security retirement benefits provide a good example. Based on the
data, adult immigrants are 47 percent less likely to receive Social
Security benefits than native-born American adults. Furthermore, the
average amount they receive in benefits is about $1,427 below that of
natives in 2016. The net effect is that immigrants individually consumed
48 percent fewer Social Security retirement benefits than natives.

Supplemental Security Income provides another example. Lower immigrant
use rates and benefits mean that the average adult immigrant consumes
about 22 percent less in SSI benefits than the average native-born
American adult.

Welfare and entitlement programs are generally intended to aid the poor
and support the elderly, but only some Americans and immigrants fall
into those categories. In another section of my study, we compare poor
and elderly immigrants who meet the poverty and age requirements for
those programs with native-born Americans who are also eligible. In this
section, immigrants consume 27 percent fewer benefits than native-born
Americans.

One reason why immigrants use fewer benefits is because they are often
not eligible for them. Legal immigrants cannot get welfare for their
first five years of residency, with few exceptions, mostly at the state
level. Illegal immigrants are not eligible for welfare except for rare
circumstances like emergency Medicaid.

Immigrants are drawn to Americas labor markets, not to welfare
benefits. The number of illegal immigrants apprehended on the Southwest
border, a good proxy measurement for the number who want to come here,
is down by 82 percent in 2017 compared to 2000. During that time,
Congress has increased the number of welfare programs available for new
immigrants.

If they were coming for welfare, there would be more illegal immigrants
entering the country than ever. But there arent. Murder, the chaotic
drug war in Central America, and a recovering economy here, combined
with a faltering one there, is the main driver of asylum seekers and
some illegal immigrants coming from that part of the world.

The fact that immigrants are in fact less likely to receive welfare
benefits should dampen the fears of conservatives and libertarians who
would support more legal immigration if it werent for welfare and
entitlement programs.

Still, Congress needs to address the high cost of welfare and
entitlement programs. The best option would be to severely cut the size
and accessibility to the welfare and entitlement state for everybody
here €” immigrants and natives. The benefits are unaffordable and push
millions of people out of the labor market.

Congress should pass a simple law that makes all people ineligible to
receive welfare and entitlement programs until they become U.S.
citizens. Building expensive walls around the country, cutting legal
immigration, or putting more faith in government technology to stop
illegal immigration are fools errands. Reducing immigrant access to
welfare and cutting the size of benefits are, by contrast, achievable
and popular policies.

The good news is that even without a higher wall around the welfare
state, immigrants are a welfare bargain compared to native-born Americans.