The Trump administration is proposing to tighten rules under which immigrants aspiring to permanent residency in the United States might obtain that privilege. The key provision is that any aspiring immigrant who has accessed public benefits such as welfare or food stamps in 12 of the past 36 months would be ineligible for permanent residency (a green card).
Oh, how the Left is howling.
Of course, it is neither racist nor anti-immigrant to insist that people from other countries who want to become permanent U.S. residents be capable of supporting themselves. Such has been the law of the land since the Immigration Act of 1882, which states in part,
…any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming a public charge…shall not be permitted to land.”
It is perfectly reasonable that immigration policy would protect U.S. taxpayers from the burden of supporting indigent immigrants. It’s in fact more than merely reasonable. It is incumbent. No nation, no matter how wealthy, can afford to import poverty. Certainly, no nation that is $22 trillion in debt and facing an entitlement funding crisis of enormous proportions can afford such folly.
Liberals are fond of saying that the United States is a nation of immigrants. That is true. But they leave out the fact that the immigrants about whom they selectively wax rhapsodic came to the country in the late 19th and early 20th centuries via Galveston and Ellis Island legally.
Lefties who go on about our immigrant heritage would do well to actually visit Ellis Island. Such a visit would be instructive. One would learn that not every would-be immigrant was admitted. There are images and stories of the heartbreak of aspiring immigrants who pulled together their very last resources to afford a steamship ticket in steerage only to be turned away for one reason or another. One would learn that there were programs in place intended to assimilate new immigrant arrivals into American culture. And one would learn that immigrants were required, as a condition of their admission, to demonstrate self-sufficiency.
Of course, the reporting on this story has been positively godawful. The network newscasts have been filled with predictable stories of families living on the edge of starvation for fear of losing their chances of getting green cards. Nearly every story has cast the Trump administration as heartless, unfeeling, uncaring and, (drumroll please), racist.
Not reported, however, is that though not enforced, it is in fact still U.S. law that legal immigrants cannot access public benefits for five years after being granted permanent resident status.
In short, none of this is new. What’s new is an administration with the resolve to enforce policy that has long been in place. And it is a fact that almost every country requires those wishing to immigrate to show the means for maintaining self-sufficiency once admitted. U.S. taxpayers (indeed taxpayers everywhere) do not have a presumptive obligation to support the world’s poor. Immigration policy that recognizes this fact isn’t racist. It’s responsible.
It is a crime to enter the United States illegally.
By definition!
If we are not going to enforce that law, why enforce others?
Illegally entering this country is NO DIFFERENT than entering someone else’s home.
One solution would be to allow illegal immigration IF all those advocating such would be required to allow the criminals to reside the liberal’s home.
Then we can all go rob banks. Victimless crime if you don’t shoot anyone!
Right on target Paul. The Left is going to scream about our “racist President and society” in general. However, the real FACTS demonstrate that President Trump is not racist, nor is the bulk of our society. Facts are funny things that keep getting the way of the liberal/socialist arguments.
NO KIDDING about $22 trillion in debt.
Good thing Trump turned THAT around!
“Changing the subject is one of the most difficult arts to master,
the key to almost all others.”
– Cesar Aira
Keep on working at it Holland, you ain’t even close.
“Ain’t even close?”
Is the $22T number Paul referenced incorrect?
And is that latest trillion no big deal?
As usual, when a leftist has nothing to contribute to the subject under discussion, the default position is to discuss another subject. As far as this forum for opinions on the long-established requirement for self-sufficiency as part of our immigration policy, I cannot understand why anyone or any party would expect hard-working Americans to be obligated to support non-Americans. The whole purpose of immigration is to improve the country by adding those who can make a positive contribution to our economy and society. Sadly, the Democrat Party has now become a recruiter for those who will be dependent, and therefore reliable voters. These politicians realize that their policies are no longer attractive to the mainstream; therefore, it is necessary to import those who will eventually be the mainstream. If anyone wants to get a snapshot of the future of the U.S. under such a plan, just take a look at the current conditions that exist in all of the major cities that Democrats have controlled for decades.
I am a native Texan and am proud of the part Texas has played in the growth of the US. It has been reliably conservative through most of its history. However, the swift exodus from the democrat-controlled metropolitan areas, due in no small part to their liberal policies and unlivable economies, have resulted in a population explosion in our large cities. This has lead to the possibility, however remote, that Texas will turn blue, or purple at best, in the near future. This would be a terrible direction for Texas and the US, allowing them to virtually assure a Democrat would be elected president for the next several election cycles. I am not opposed to a two-party government, but that isn’t what we are heading to at this point. The vile hatred and animosity spewing about that is directed toward ANYONE that disagrees with the left now is unprecedented in this country. Obama had his share of vitriol hurled at him, but nothing like what Trump has endured, and from some (previously) respectable sources. How are we to mend this massive rift in our core principles? I don’t have an immediate answer, but I am equally certain that NONE of the Democratic candidates has one, either. Not a clue!
You are asking THE most important question; and I am impressed by the solution recommended by (his words) “the second most conservative member of the US Senate.”
I sent a copy of this book to Paul, and I think you would find it of interest too:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250193680/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_awdb_t1_xiQwDbCPQF8VG
You have correctly defined the hatred of the Left. “How are we to mend this massive rift in our core principles?” The solution is to DEFEAT (if it is not too late) the Left that has successfully infiltrated almost every public/private institution and organization (Media/Press, Government, Political Parties, Industry, Education, Churches, etc.) for the last 50 years with its demonic agenda. The Leftists (Marxists) have successfully secretly subverted (now plainly visible) the core American principles of the Constitution, Bill of Rights, Faith and Family that used to be taught and practiced without controversy. The Left is doing this in order to FUNDAMENTALLY restructure this country into a Marxist Utopia (read Dictatorship) that wipes out our Unalienable Rights from God and most importantly of all: Freedom of Thought.
The Left doesn’t debate. It destroys. That is why there is no truthful dialog possible. The Left is an aggressive force of “vile hate” and the reason for the “massive rift” is because a few bold American Patriots are FINALLY pushing back against this un-American evil force. There are plenty of Republican wimps both in and out of office and in the press and media that want to “cross the aisle” and alleviate the hatred from the Left. That never works because the Left NEVER gives up. Hence they must be DEFEATED by exposing their TRUE agenda and HATRED for America as founded: a Representative Republic based on the Principles of the Judeo-Christian heritage and Rights from God, not from ‘Almighty Government’. Compromise is not possible since the losses of our precious American Freedoms are at stake. The erasure of national identity/heritage and support of open borders to flood this country with willing dupes to follow the Marxist agenda and promise of Utopia is now the fast track to our destruction by dilution of the American Conservative voting base. Witness the political disaster in California. Is Texas next? What about Florida? If Trump doesn’t fix this, the Country and your Freedoms will be finished.