Trump foes scrambling to derail 'cruel' rule requiring immigrants to show they aren't public burden

[mystery-ak]

 By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Monday, December 10, 2018

The Trump administration is now on the clock to finalize one of the biggest changes to legal immigration policy in a generation, after the official comment period ended Monday on a plan to require immigrants to show they aren’t a public burden if they want to extend their visas or get on the path to citizenship.

Immigrant rights groups and other Trump opponents mounted a feverish last-minute push to try to derail the proposal. They submitted tens of thousands of comments calling the plan misguided and racist and warned that it would keep needy immigrants from visiting doctors and leave children hungry because their parents fear signing them up for free school lunches, lest they lose their chance at citizenship.

The president’s backers said they expect Mr. Trump and his team to finalize the proposal. If anything, they said, it doesn’t go far enough to crack down on what appears to be rampant welfare use by noncitizens and their children.

“I think they’re going to implement them as is or with some tweaks. This is the kind of thing he was elected for,” said Steven A. Camarota, research director at the Center for Immigration Studies. “While there might be advocacy groups that object to that idea, the fact is most Americans think immigrants should be self-sufficient, so I think they’re on pretty strong ground.”

The center released a study this month calculating that a staggering 63 percent of households led by noncitizens use at least one welfare program. The rate for households led by native-born Americans is just 35 percent.

But under guidelines established during the Clinton administration, the government looks at only a narrow set of cash assistance programs when determining whether an immigrant is a public charge.

more
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/dec/10/immigrants-must-prove-they-arent-public-burden-und/

[skeeter]

Compassion has nothing to do with opposition to common sense policies like this. Its all about promoting a socialist government structure under the guise of compassion. The GOP had best begin pointing that out or we're screwed.

[GtHawk]

Funny, I don't recall immigrants and others bitching and whining about this rule when it was actually enforced in our nation's not so distant past. My parents had to have sponsors who swore, legally, to be responsible for them financially and my parents had to swear responsibility for my grandparents when they immigrated later. It's just outrageous that the liberals want to make all of America responsible for uneducated, unskilled migrants and give them all sorts of government aid the minute they arrive, aid and assistance immigrants in the past had to swear not to ask for or receive for a period of five years.

[Chosen Daughter]

Right, it doesn't go far enough.  If people want permanent residency in Mexico they have to prove they are able to care for themselves.

https://www.mexperience.com/lifestyle/living-in-mexico/visas-and-immigration/#1