More Careless Immigration Journalism
By Dan Cadman on December 14, 2018
Earlier this week USA Today published "How new Trump rules could leave tens of thousands of immigrants ineligible for green cards".
The article is, of course, about the impending rule governing the "public charge" provision in immigration law, which would render certain aliens inadmissible/removable for obtaining welfare or social safety net benefits under certain conditions. Needless to say, the proposed rule is being vilified as draconian by many immigrant advocacy groups, though in truth it's fairly modest.
The public charge provision of law on which the rule change is based has existed for a very long time, but in truth it has rarely been enforced, even though taxpayer-funded benefit programs have always confronted the problem of more applicants than capacity. My colleagues, Dr. Steven Camarota and Karen Zeigler, have recently written about the extensive use of welfare by immigrants — including in those households where the sponsoring immigrant submitted paperwork swearing that he (or she) would have the means and resources to bring in a family member under our extended chain-migration system, without resorting to such programs. The problem is that they haven't been held to their oath, and the recipient often does end up using social benefits intended for others.
https://cis.org/Cadman/More-Careless-Immigration-Journalism
