Welcome to Radio VDARE and I’m your host Virginia Dare.
The liberal outrage of the week is a new plan by the Trump Administration which would penalize immigrants who use welfare programs, including tax credits [Trump proposal who would penalize immigrants who use tax credits and other benefits, by Nick Miroff, Washington Post, March 28, 2018].
It’s remarkable this is even considered controversial. But the usual checkmark crowd had a full-scale meltdown on Twitter. For example, Julia Ioffe at The Atlantic pulled a “wow just wow” and called it “crazy” and “stupid.”
WOW: "Immigrants who accept almost any form of welfare or public benefit, even popular tax deductions, could be denied legal U.S. residency under a proposal awaiting approval by the Trump administration." https://t.co/mmN86WcZX5
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) March 28, 2018
There are so many crazy parts of this proposal, including the overlooking of the fact that immigrants don't use welfare programs at disproportionate rates, but what is really stupid about this is this:
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) March 28, 2018
Humanity aside, let's say an immigrant family needs some help getting on their feet when they first get here. Then they get on their feet, get good jobs and start paying into the system, far more than they ever took from it. We're willing to forgo that money just to make a point?
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) March 28, 2018
What’s really crazy and stupid is the idea of allowing foreigners to immigrate to this country and immediately start collecting welfare. Some may argue natives are on welfare too and using various government programs. But that isn’t a good thing. We want to decrease the number of people dependent on the government, not deliberately import more people to function as charity cases.
You hear the same kind of argument, though it’s not really much of an argument, when we bring up illegal alien crime. Of course some natives commit crime, just like some natives are on welfare. But the point is, we shouldn’t have any illegal immigrants in our country committing crimes. That’s why so-called “sanctuary states” are such an outrage, as every American who is lost to illegal alien crime represents a betrayal by our government.
There should not be one illegal immigrant in this country. And we shouldn’t have any immigrants in this country, legal or illegal, who are going to be a public charge.
Yet one can’t help but think progressives deliberately want to import immigrants who will be dependents, precisely because they will operate as permanent clients of the welfare state, rather than citizens with something to contribute. That’s what the Left has been doing since the 1965 Immigration Act, not so much trying to get Americans to vote for them, but importing foreigners to cast the votes Americans won’t cast.
After all, you don’t see any leftists running to champion the cause of white South Africans, who actually would be legitimate refugees, are being persecuted by their government, and would likely contribute a great deal to this country, particularly in struggling rural America. It’s precisely because they would be productive citizens, and probably not vote for the Left, that progressives don’t want them.
From a policy standpoint, the amount of money consumed by immigrants using welfare programs is considerable. According to a 2015 report from the Center for Immigration Studies, more than half the nation’s immigrants receive some kind of government welfare [Report: More than half of immigrants on welfare, by Alan Gomez, USA Today, September 2, 2015]. At a time when President Trump is saying he doesn’t have the money to build the border wall, when the deficit is ballooning to new levels every week, and when infrastructure is quite literally collapsing all around us, we should be taking care of our own, not foreigners.
The Kaiser Foundation says that “decreased participation in these programs would negatively affect the financial stability of families and the growth and healthy development of children in these families, who are predominantly U.S. born citizens” [Proposed changes to “public charge” policies for immigrants: implications for health coverage, Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation, February 13, 2018].
Well, there’s an easy solution for that too. Get rid of birthright citizenship. Heck, the current President of the United States proposed just that during his campaign.
And that’s the point. This is a good initiative by the Trump Administration. But it’s just a beginning. It’s time for President Trump to implement his promises from the campaign. A remittance tax to pay for the wall, end birthright citizenship, and decisive action to reverse, not just slow down, the Left’s attempt to replace the American people.
I’m Virginia Dare and we will talk again soon.
