The Immigration Debate; Again.

sciencenerd
Mon, 07 Aug 2017 14:49:15 +0000

More than half of immigrants are on some form of welfare, using welfare more than native born people.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/09/01/immigrant-welfare-use-report/71517072/

And according to this study, this remains true even when they’ve been here for 20 years.

@TatinG. Have you looked at the source the USA Today article sites? The “Center for Immigration Studies”? They are one of the most anti-immigrant “think tanks” out there. I’d be highly suspicious of anything they have to say.

I don’t think it’s any surprise that immigrants, particularly illegal ones, are in the main poorer than American citizens.

That might be true of the first generation who are trying to find their footing in America. But things usually change by the second generation.

“These kids who get subsidized school lunches today will go on to graduate high school … will go on to college and move up to the middle class of America,” Chavez said. “Every time we have a nativist backlash in our history, we forget that we see immigrants change very rapidly in the second generation.”

Let’s also not ignore the vast number of immigrant doctors, engineers, professionals etc who aren’t “poorer than American citizens.”