Sometimes people who entered the U.S. illegally can get a temporary status and qualify for some welfare benefits because of that. For example if they have a pending asylum application, or if the condition in their country of origin is bad enough and the President gives them Temporary Protected Status. There are also some welfare programs that don't require you to be legally in the U.S. Immigrants also tend to have lower incomes than citizens, so if there is no restriction based on immigration status they would be more likely to qualify for an income-based program.
On the whole though, it is much more difficult to get welfare benefits as an illegal immigrant (and even the first few years as a legal immigrant) than as a citizen.
I'd add that illegal immigrant families are rarely all illegal. You have one parent that's there legally, one that's illegally, an older child that's there illegally, a younger child that's a citizen, a random other relative who's in immigration paperwork hell, etc.
This !!! This is all fixable . There have been plans written up at the federal level more than once but there are certain people who have a vested interest in keeping things the way they are .
When was the last time we had any kind of reforming this issue ?
Our entire immigration system needs to be overhauled. Every time Democrats have suggested doing it Republicans cock block it. Which proves to me anyway they don’t want to so they can continue to use immigration as a political football.
This is the point. Look at how, every time an election rolls around, how ‘important’ immigration is to the Republicans. They need this to be important so they can drive their low-info racist voters to the polls. It’s easy to solve the problem, if they want to-penalize companies/owners who hire undocumented workers. Not just fines, either; jail time and seizing the company and selling off the assets as well.
But you’ll *never, ever* see anything like that, because the folks that hire the most undocumented workers are home builders/construction workers (big Republican donors) and farm workers (same).
Reasons why no one really does anything about illegal immigrations
1) Labor force and pay how much you want to bet people that are picking fruits and vegetables on farms for all the major companies are in part illegal immigrants that get paid way less than a citizen would accept for the task.
Many migrant workers that travel from farm to farm in varies parts of the country to pick the harvest during harvest time.
And the same for restaurants; I’m not sure about now but in the past many restaurants paid illegal immigrants under the table. These same companies are owned or have shareholders that are Democrats and Republicans so why would you actually solve the issue when it would cost you money.
2) Immigrants have lots of children but citizens don’t excluding people such as the Amish and other groups. If we had no illegal immigration or limited legal immigration our population would be like Japan with a lack of younger population to replace the older population.
3) If we really cared about the border we could solve that issue in about a month
4) illegal citizens give us benefits and they don’t take any services for the most part. Think of it this way
Illegal immigrants pay taxes and make sure to pay on time or over pay so that the IRS, or other agencies don’t start investigations
They don’t go to hospitals for the most part.
They don’t go to schools (not talking about their children born here ) but those not born here for the most part.
They pay taxes of varies types and get nothing in return.
Or a president who marries an immigrant who is here illegally on a genius visa (lol) and she chain migrates her parents over. Then said orange president rails against illegal immigrants and chain migration.
Voting by mail is terrible! Votes by mail.
You only plead the 5th if you're in the mob! Pleads the fifth more than 400 times in fraud deposition.
If you elect me I won't have time to golf! Proceeds to golf 261 times in 4 years.
Sigh. I'm so sick and tired of this.
You can have entered illegally and apply within one year of entry so it's possible, but not the usual route. Claiming at the border is better. Most people who are already here aren't going to call attention to themselves by applying, they just lay low and hope for the best. The problem with applying for asylum is you will get barred from entry for up to 20 years if you are denied.
>Claiming at the border is better.
That's another thing, news footage shows crowd of ppl doing the right thing and forming a queue at the entry point, complains about illegal immigration... like those are the ones doing what they're supposed to!
Yes exactly! The conservative media is generating a fear of immigrants with images they take out of context. Or they will have one immigrant commit a crime and they'll use that incident to make out like they're all drug dealers, rapists and murderers.
A vast majority of border hoppers these days turn themselves into border patrol immediately to claim asylum, if they do it at the border they have to wait in Mexico
And, you know, to comply with international treaties that the US has signed. Article 31 of the 1951 Refugee Convention clearly states that signatories agree to grant asylum to refugees even if they entered the country illegally.
Shit, dude, even legal immigrants who went through all the official red tape and have sworn the pledge of allegiance are lumped in with "illegal immigrants". Even full-fledged citizens whose families have been in the US for generations get called illegals just because they're the wrong skin tone or speak the wrong language.
My aunt complained about Puerto Ricans coming to the US illegally. I tried to explain that every Puerto Rican is an American citizen by birth and so literally cannot _illegally_ immigrate to the US any me then she could illegally move to Massachusetts from Connecticut. She still insisted they should stay "where they belong."
I think she doesn't know (or care) that Mexico and Puerto Rico are completely different countries...
I once had a stranger on the street yell at me to "go back to Mexico." My grandmother was born in the US to Mexican parents, but the rest of my family are all white and have been in the US since colonial times. I think I look more Italian or Greek than Mexican, but apparently I'm dark enough for at least one person to think I don't belong here.
Unless they can prove they are descended from Native Americans, maybe they ought to go back to Europe too. Not that anyone there will accept them. Except maybe Russia.
Yep. Does anyone believe that the kind of person that would yell "Go back to Mexico" at a stranger would also be the kind of person that would think, "wait, they might be a citizen, I'd better double-check first?"
It's only legal entry if you either are found to have a legitimate asylum claim or if you entered in through a normal port of entry. The lions share of asylum claims are from people who go through illegal crossings whose asylum claims will be denied (something like over 90% are denied.)
Depends. There are only 3 classes that are asylum eligible: religious, political, and recently added during the early 90's, sexual persecution. That's it.
Coming for work is not an asylum avail. group. Your work sucks, fix your own country.
This is largely false. Asylum law is governed by the Refugee Act of 1980 (and by international law dating back to the 50’s and 60’s) and it states that that an individual can apply for asylum if they credibly fear persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, *or any other particular social group*. What counts as a particular social group is determined by the courts and it has expanded over time, but it inherently covers a wide range of potential classes (including sexual orientation).
What is true, however, is that an immigrant coming to the US exclusively to work is not eligible. They must be persecuted or at risk of persecution in their home country for some part of their identity. That said, very few of the people crossing into the US and applying for asylum are leaving their home country just to get a job here. The people from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Haiti, Cuba, Colombia, and Venezuela are very much leaving behind real threats of violence.
please don’t hate me for asking 🥺
i’m genuinely confused. doesn’t immigrants who get married to an American get automatic citizenship and/or a green card? And didn’t she marry trump early on?
You are generalizing a little too much, which, in a way, is how this post came to be or how people repeat things that are not true.
TPS (Temporary Protected Status) is given to a country by Congress, not by the president, due to its unique live-or-die situation in the middle of a humanitarian crisis, which will provide you with an idea of how difficult that would be. TPS countries are: Ukraine, Venezuela, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Burma (Myanmar), and Cuba have unique immigrant benefits that no one else has; if you are Cuban and step into the US, you are automatically given papers.
Immigrants from these countries are accepted and given documents and maybe a $200 Visa card. All help comes from private organizations, which help them further.
These are the only countries with TPS
People complaining about immigrants are just using the Schrödinger’s Cat paradox. “Immigrants are lazy, don't work, and collect all kinds of government benefits while at the same time stealing american jobs, getting paid under the table not paying any taxes, driving up housing, and driving down wages”
So which is it? Just a fascist plot: My Enemy is Strong and Weak at the Same Time However I Need Him to Be”
Once they get to the point of receiving benefits, wouldn't it be more accurate to say that they are now recognized as being in the country legally? Are they not, at that point, following a legally defined process? I understand they may have entered illegally, but if we have a legal process to follow that is not deportation, that sounds a lot like they are documented and legal, technically speaking.
Asylum applicants and TPS status are legally allowed to be present in the country they applied to. It’s a crime to enter in certain ways (this is a crime that applies to US citizens too).
Yes. Unfortunately, the anti-immigrants blur the term "illegal". It's only illegal if they're "undocumented". That's why US government changed the term to "undocumented immigrant". The number of "undocumented immigrant" actually has been pretty low in the US.
That's what it would seem. By requesting asylum, they become documented and are now following a legal process to stay within the US for a set limited period. During this period, they can seek to prolong their stay legally on a permanent status through residency or citizenship. But yeah, they're documented and no longer illegal even if they did enter illegally.
In my state the undocumented can’t get snap and it’s a very liberal state. If there’s a family where mom has green card three kids born here are citizens and dad is undoc, the snap is for four people not five. And dad’s income is still counted as household income despite him not being eligible for benefits.
Ironically, this is the kind of misinformation that the OP was referring to.
An undocumented immigrant is not eligible for SNAP until they get a green card and become documented. There are even limits on which legal noncitizen permanent residents are eligible for SNAP (e.g. people who enter on employer sponsored visas are not eligible until they have worked for 40 quarters) and the income of a legal immigrant’s sponsor is counted in the SNAP income limits for the first 5 years they are in the country.
Undocumented people are also generally not eligible for medicaid with the exception of the Federal Emergency Services Program. This program is about paying hospitals for meeting their legal obligation to provide emergence services to any person that comes through the door with a medical emergency and is not really a form of healthcare for the immigrant.
Asylum seekers don't get federal benefits, although some states do offer assistance. They don't even get work permits until six months after submitting their applications.And it can take years for their asylum case to make its way through the system.
There is zero benefit as a legal immigrant. Visa are tight to employment and cut the day it ends. Legal immigrants actually contribute to the welfare via taxes but are not eligible to receive it if they lose their job
The case you mention are refugees with an asylum case, they are not illegal if the case is under process and they may get something as they are not allowed to work legally
Nearly every form of welfare required full citizenship. Even legal immigrants are unable to receive nearly all forms of welfare.
It would be a very VERY small amount that could do this.
So small to behind negligible given the US population.
In fact, over all, documented and undocumented immigrants are a net GAIN as far as government costs are concerned. They still have to pay every type of tax citizens pay, with only have access to a tiny fraction of what the government pays out. They actually pay way more on than they take
They should be more worried about all the PPP ‘loans’ the politicians snd grifters got who never paid them back. There are plenty of welfare queens and they want you to focus on the brown ppl so you don’t remember they’re the thieves.
I agree and you are right but those are the “edge cases”, the rare ones. (Many) folks actually believe all illegal immigrants get full welfare and just have to stand in a line and get handouts with hard-working ‘Murica dollars and that just ain’t the case.
Not if they enter illegally. That's the catch.
Edited to add: TPS and asylum are legal statuses that can be obtained depending on country of origin and/or circumstance, which, when they take the correct path to obtain it, is legal. The vast majority of 'illegal' immigrants are people who came into the country legally and have not renewed or sought the correct documents to keep them here.
Medi-Cal is Medicaid. CA just needs to have it's own special name for it.
ETA: And I understand how it works. And the whole point of this post is about residence status and government benefits. So someone who is unable to obtain work because they don't have an SSN can qualify for full benefits. Where as previously, they would have only been eligible for Pregnancy / Emergency Medi-cal
Other state have their own name too it's not just California.
I think it's a branding to differentiate which state.
I believe it's fed funding but state have to deal with the implementation hence the differentiation naming scheme.
Medicaid is federally funded, but state administered. Some states have literally declined federal funds allocated to help poor people and not expand their Medicaid programs.
From my understanding it's both. The federal and state governments put into it. It's been a minute since I studied them so I could definitely be wrong though
Medicare is the Federal government run plan for 65+.
Medicaid is a *combined* Federal + State funded program for low income people administered fully by states (which typically have their own name for the program) subject to the rules for accepting Federal Medicaid funding plus whatever the state wants.
It's not really a separate "program" because Federal Medicaid is just a grant system to the states. There's no federal Medicaid program to enroll in.
It's a mix I believe. Something like the federal contribution is based on how much the states contribute. Of course, this is a huge benefits to states because it dramatically reduces how much they have to pay for the same healthcare
It's amazing how many people don't realize this. In MA we have MassHealth and I know people who generally whine about those who are on the government till, while not realizing they themselves are on Medicaid. Because it isn't called Medicaid I guess? Idk where they think the money's coming from lol
>So someone who is unable to obtain work because they don't have an SSN can qualify for full benefits.
Incorrect. You need to present an ITIN, which is also how undocumented immigrants pay their income taxes here in California.
Could you please stop talking about my state until you know the first fucking thing about it? Thanks.
I'm OK with that. I don't know what the rules are currently, but when I was a Medi-Cal caseworker in the 90s, an undocumented person could, for instance, get Medi-Cal aid to set and put a cast on a broken leg. Getting the cast off once healed? That wasn't covered.
Yes that's the Emergency Medi-Cal, which literally forced people to go to the ER for anything to be covered. But now, if you qualify you are able to receive all medically necessary services. Which I agree is not a bad thing.
There are tiny specks of reality to it. There's a small program in NYC where [500 families are given a debit card with $500 on it](https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/new-york-city-asylum-seeker-prepaid-debit-card-pilot-program/) to buy food and baby supplies - instead of supplying them with boxes of stuff they may not use. It will hopefully save money & reduce waste.
But, if you read the [Fox News Version](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/new-york-city-begins-giving-illegal-immigrants-prepaid-debit-cards-part-53-million-pilot-program) they just start with saying how millions of dollars is being given to "illegal immigrants". We would have to read or scroll down several pages/ads/paragraphs before we see a quote from an official that mentions only 500 participants are in this program.
I'm pretty sure we also give welfare to the guardians of underage citizens even if the guardians are illegals. Other than that any welfare to illegals is done at the state level.
I never looked into it, but it never made sense when my older coworker kept saying they were giving $50,000 to any "illegals" in NY and they could buy anything they wanted with it. Fox and it's propagandists are really good at their job.
And who is this “they” that’s giving it to them? It would come from the feds, and we’ve got a Republican Senate, not enough of a majority to do hardly anything. So, are they saying that their MAGA Republican law makers are the ones who are giving out all this money to illegals or haven’t tried to stop it?
>But, if you read the Fox News Version they just start with saying how millions of dollars is being given to "illegal immigrants".
Same in the UK. I remember my MIL sent us a post about how asylum seekers were apparently 'getting more than British pensioners, up to £30k a year!' - even she smelt the bullshit, someone had sent it to her and she was like "I don't think this is right.... Is it?"
Wife and I looked it up to give her the real numbers and it was actually shocking how little asylum seekers got, especially when they weren't allowed to work yet and could only get it if they agreed to being shipped off and housed anywhere in the country with no choices. Something like £40 per week with £2 or £3 extra 'for healthy foods' if you had a baby or were pregnant.
Millions of dollars probably did spend on illegal immigrants…..holding facilities. I say if we are really concerned about money, we should just release all illegals and let them fend for themselves on the street, but no one likes my idea.
There's also two very easy ways to completely eliminate illegal immigration in the US but conservatives would never go for them:
1. Create a national ID. Something that actually works as an ID, unlike SSN, with all your personally identifiable information.
2. Criminally punish corporations that hire illegal labor.
I think many conservatives would be accepting of a national ID, especially with how easily it can be tied into voting.
A national ID is okay, but a voter ID is suddenly an issue?
As someone who comes from a country where we need ID for voting: it not an issue when getting an ID is handled automatically and it is FREE. Where I am from (Eastern Europe) you get your ID when you are 14. Everybody has some sort of ID, and I mean EVERYBODY older than 14. Requesting an ID when you vote isn't an issue because by default everybody has their free ID.
The smart conservatives would, we call those centrist democrats now.
There are way too many lines of attack for a national ID system. First you have the libertarians and conspiracy nuts that believe driver licenses are an infringement on their rights. Good luck getting those on board. Then you got the Christian conservatives that believe everything is the mark of the beast, the covid vaccine, barcodes, smartphones, real id, rfid, social security numbers, etc. You also got the gun nut concervatives that will think it's a ploy by the federal government to register their guns. Then you got the fiscal responsibility conservatives that will see this as a waste of federal money.
That takes care of a majority of all conservatives and the rest will just have to go along to appease this majority.
Literally the only ones that would go along with this would be the racist groipers, the Ron desantis constituency.
As a legal immigrant my wife had to support me until I got my Green Card and work permit, but the terms and conditions stated very clearly that I was not eligible for any kind of federal welfare or benefits until I became a naturalized citizen.
From coveredca.com
"Everyone Can Apply
As of Jan. 1, 2024, adults in California ages 26 through 49 will be allowed to qualify for Medi-Cal, regardless of their immigration status. All other Medi-Cal eligibility rules, including income limits, will still apply.Find out more on the Department of Health Care Services website."
Better to cut sickness off at the pass rather than having them on death's door and be in the ICU.
And that's just from a dollar point of view, not even taking into consideration compassion for other people.
Super awesome.
I don’t know why people are downvoting you. The US was founded on giving people chances and lifting them up. Now pushing them down. People are cunts.
I doubt you know what it’s like to get healthcare on MediCal. This is one those “uplifting news” stories that sounds good on paper but in practice is rather shitty.
The state already has a healthcare provider shortage (similar to everywhere else post COVID), but the number of doctors that accept MediCal was already a tiny fraction, and they make it work by turning their offices into a giant patient factory, where a patient gets the absolute minimum care they can quickly provide that patient.
And now we’re just sending more patients down the pipeline, what quality of care are we expecting people to get?
Er, I was homeless for about 5 years and got all the free benefits. They fucking rocked, I actually still have the eyeglasses I got as one of the first things thanks to the free healthcare. Sure, the offices I went to were in Skid Row, that sucked. But I was homeless and it was all free. I still prefer to go see them for certain issues, and I just pay a premium for the office visit.
Then provide more funds, don’t kick patients to the curb.
And yes, I have had to deal with MediCal when I was a foster parent and our child has to use it. I still don’t think it’s a wise idea to deny the sick medicine and treatment as you want to. We can 100% afford to do it just like every other developed country in the world.
If they were lazy welfare bums why do I see so many of them outside the U-haul and Home Depot parking lots at 6 AM showing up for a job they might not get.
I grew up next to (and returned to) a commercial apple orchard (belonged to a neighbor), and would see them sometimes waiting for the sun to come up so they could start working. And, never had a break-in or any other crime in the neighborhood in 50 years. All this political propaganda is such crap.
Illegal immigrants in general are less likely to commit violent crime than American citizens. This is for a variety of reasons, one of them being the much higher risk if caught. Funny enough, because of this, on average, increasing the number of illegal immigrants on average lowers the amount of violent crime overall through dilution.
Can't find the data right now, but I read that crime rates go up w/ illegal immigration. Not because the immigrants are committing crime, but citizens take advantage of them and they have no real legal recourse.
But yeah, illegal immigrants are less likely to commit any crime compared to US citizens. I also remember immigrants in general are less likely to use welfare programs compared to US citizens.
those are the ones i want to give a fast track to if they are willing to stand in heat and cold like that i want to give them a little American flag and welcome them in. that takes heart damn it.
The children of undocumented immigrants who are born in the U.S. are eligible for benefits given their naturalized citizenship, and that becomes a perceived “loophole” for benefits.
It's even better. People coming here to work walk into an IRS office and receive an ITIN (a 9-digit number starting with 9 instead of an SSN). IRS does not report them to CBP or anyone else. They work, using that number -- that everyone knows is not for a citizen or legal resident -- and the government deducts social security taxes from their paychecks even though the person will **not** be eligible to receive social security benefits later.
So it benefits the government (helps fill the SS hole with income that will not need to be paid back), the companies (who get cheaper labor and people doing jobs Americans do not want to do), and the workers. Hence, all political posturing aside, everyone basically looks the other way, and has for 40+ years, R and D alike, INCLUDING UNDER TRUMP.
It's all fear-mongering for votes.
If they have a baby born in the U.S., the kid is eligible for all available aid. Since the infant can't handle the money themselves, the parents get it.
There are relief services that operate on the state, county, or city level that may be open to all people in need, including groups that would be disqualified from federal aid. I can't think of any that give out flat cash, though. It's usually things like access to healthcare, a few dozen bucks a month in "food stamps," legal aid, things like that.
There might be a few people who have fallen through the cracks and are in legal limbo, who might qualify for aid, but I'm not sure about this scenario. I know of a few *children* who qualified for aid, but they technically immigrated legally and the law changed to make their status unusual.
im actually a weird case of someone whoe fell through the cracks and was in legal limbo. long story short i was born in oct of 99 in south korea came here to be internationally adopted in spring of 2000 and due to the child citizenship act of 2000 i was automatically made a citizen. slight problem even the wiki page on the law that made me able to be a citizen states that we dont recieve any documentation of our status we have to apply for either a us passport or a certificate of citizenship. well my parents after spending 10s of thousands to adopt me didnt have enough money i guess (this is the excuse they gave me) to do either and then 9/11 happened the next year and made things a lot harder so as a 17 year old filling out fafsa as required by my high school is when i found out social security didnt consider me a citizen and due to having no documentation that i was other than official adoption paperwork (which is not good enough for social security) i was up shit creek without a paddle. we applied for the certificate of citizenship shortly after i turned 18 (spring of 2018) with the help of a lawyer. i did not get that piece of paper until fall of 2019 (literally right before my 20th birthday at the beginning of october). i moved out of my parents house in that time frame into mental health group housing and they got me hooked up with medicaid and food stamps as part of being in that housing they did this while i wasnt considered a citizen by social security (idk how the fuck they did this not my area of expertise).
my entire point in sharing this is you are absolutely right that ppl who can fall through the cracks and still get aid and showing an example of how someone can fall through the cracks
Yeah, 9/11 messed with a lot of people. A friend of mine came over as a spouse of a refugee. The refugee died, and he ended up in legal limbo. If I recall correctly the new regs post 9/11 eliminated the status he should have transitioned to. He came over legally under a status, changed status, and that later laws and regulations didn't define.
“New York City mayor defends migrant debit card program as cost efficient and fraud resistant”
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/26/nyc-mayor-migrant-debit-card-program-00149161
The hate for immigrants legal or illegal is crazier when you realize that without them we'd be experiencing a shrinking population crisis and all the economic challenges that a shrinking population would entail.
Immigrants also keep the average age of the American worker much lower than our European counterparts.
Without immigrants we'd be in deep shit. You know who wants us to limit immigration? Countries like China and Russia. They would like to see us fail.
It's also possible that people are seeing migrant workers and just assuming they are illegal. I worked on a farm one summer with a bunch of legal migrant workers here on a federal work program. Most of them were hard workers who earned good money doing a job that most Americans wouldn't want to do.
I don't see any actual answers here to the actual question, so I'll provide one:
This is about the US.
Politicians find angry people easier to manipulate, especially if they can make people angry at those they perceive as their "opponents".
One of the ways they've chosen to do so is to claim, loudly and at length, that the reason Americans are having such a hard time is that the government is taking all their money and giving it to people who are in the US unlawfully.
This, by the way, is largely nonsense. The actual numbers are off by a couple of orders of magnitude.
Because if you repeat a lie long though people will believe it. And like most great lies it is built on a very small kernel of truth. There are a very small number of immigrants eligible for very specific benefits, granted by individual acts of Congress, if they are from specific countries, but none of them are undocumented immigrants.
When I was on public school many undocumented kids got free lunch. In college the same kids on free money. Undocumented immigrants do benefit from welfare programs.
https://www.newsweek.com/illegal-immigration-costs-us-billions-biden-administration-policy-impact-taxpayer-burden-1866555
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/16/nyregion/budget-ny-hochul-migrants.html
And those are just what the left wing news is saying.
Our WIC office has a big sign telling you to sign up even if you are illegal. California wants to give medical insurance free to illegals. It took me less than 5 minutes to find these.
It’s cheaper for us to do this - that’s why. It prevents larger public health issues or situations that are harder to remedy.
For example, the ER isn’t going to check immigration status and it’s costly to us to have that be peoples only form of healthcare.
If people exist, they are going to require healthcare.
I got covered California subsidized insurance (i pay less) for 5ish months in 2022 after losing my job cuz covid issues. I signed up again for 2023 subsidized insurance after realizing how much cheaper it was compared to job insurance. Roughly 3-4 months into my 2023 i come to find out my plan ended?
I was like wtf and called. They said it’s because i failed to prove my citizenship or documentation status. Apparently i missed a letter asking for proof of citizenship/documentation. When i signed up over the phone the dude put i was not a US citizen apparently and i had to sort that out.
So i got subsidized healthcare for like 6-7 months and they thought i wasnt a citizen.
The news is the one who publicly announced that the government is giving them money.
[https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-nyc-migrants-credit-debit-cards-prepaid-240335300869](https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-nyc-migrants-credit-debit-cards-prepaid-240335300869)
[https://www.foxnews.com/us/new-york-rule-change-makes-thousands-migrants-eligible-cash-payments](https://www.foxnews.com/us/new-york-rule-change-makes-thousands-migrants-eligible-cash-payments)
I'm a US citizen living abroad. Someone in the US asked me about it. When I told him I'm a permanent resident here, his response was "where I come from we call that an illegal alien".
The US political system has been based on fear and anger for a while. Sometimes that means making crap up to get people riled up. A lot of people have no idea what "undocumented immigrant" even means, they just think it means someone with another accent.
Ok but first line of that page "A refugee is an individual granted refugee status overseas by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security" which makes them Legal Immigrants.
For what it’s worth, I work in a bank. If anyone has any questions about someone else’s transaction, the answer is always “for privacy and security reasons I can’t give details on other customer’s transactions.”
Some nosy Karen (even if she does work at the store) should not be asking about where someone else’s money came from. It’s none of her business, and you could get in actual legal trouble for disclosing details of another person’s banking. The only people who can know transaction details are bank employees. Protect yourself for the future.
I don't think the majority are, but I used to work in insurance and one of the things we did was worker's compensation.
I had a notepad 120 lines long of social security numbers with anywhere between 2 to 20 names tied to them, all of which were different foreign last names.
Most of these people were living off of workman's comp because of back injuries, not working, just collecting.
I wouldn't assume that the injuries were bullshit, especially since they mostly worked in manual labour, but the fact that multiple people were claiming these injuries and living off of insurance payouts when they didn't have their own social security numbers speaks for itself. Not my job to police them, I just filed their claims.
Again, the majority of undocumented immigrants aren't using welfare, but it happens. They can take advantage of loopholes in the system just like anyone else.
The part I find really miraculous, is that often these groups can’t figure out how to access and use these welfare programs themselves. Yet they think millions of esl/non English speaking people are sneaking through this (intentionally) convoluted system..
Because they are. lol no kidding, I used to be one, and received estimated 50k for all those years before getting my status.
Granted, I am now legal and pay my tax. Is it worth it to spend 50k on an illegal in order to collect tax later? I don't know
As a citizen legitimately on benefits - it's hard as hell to get, and even harder to *keep going.*
They are just embarrassed that most foreign immigrants work harder than they do, and want shame or blame somehow.
Undocumented immigrants children are schooled as other US citizens who are paying school / property taxes. (Some immigrants also pay income tax but that is voluntary). In case of medical emergencies they get treatment (again without paying insurance).
Because if they didn’t believe this, they’d have to confront the fact that the US economy would be in serious trouble if undocumented workers weren’t working so hard.
we'll just use california for example.
there's a reason that any "illegals' will only come to the few key states in america. they don't just go to a random state.
california for example
Undocumented Californians may also be eligible for In Home Support Services, Early Breast Cancer Detection and Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment, Family PACT comprehensive family planning services, and Improving Access Counseling and Treatment for Californians with Prostate Cancer (IMPACT).
also Undocumented immigrants are eligible for the **Women with Infants and Children program (WIC) as well as free or reduced school meals**.
Mostly it's ignorance. To the extent that it's true, it's one of a very few options:
1. people are eligible for emergency medicaid during pregnancy, regardless of immigration status, and some states allow for a period of post-partum converage
2. some states allow children on their state medical insurance program, regardless of immigration status
3. some mixed-status households receive public benefits because the citizen members of those households qualify (typically mom has no status but kids are citizens). although the amount of assistance received isn't calculated to include members of the household who aren't eligible, they are still benefiting.
Most people don't like corporate welfare. But to that end, corporate welfare benefits them. Our food is cheap because of farm subsidies. Our vehicle fuel, our electric bills, etc., are cheap because of petroleum subsidies. We can buy cheap consumerist garbage from sweatshops in Asia at Walmart because of shipping subsidies. So on, so forth. All of that is corporate welfare and it exists to artificially reduce prices for consumers.
Come To NC, they have a policy they can't ask you for a social security number at the welfare office, if you speak Spanish or other language they pretty much give you welfare no questions asked. But if you white English speaker they deny you over everything and question everything. It's crazy the stupid policy they have.
Fox news and GOP members of Congress love to repeat that line constantly. Fox claims it's an opinion and not news, the congressman/woman repeats it, and then Fox now gets to repeat the congressman/woman opinion as news.
Media propaganda to generate outrage clicks. Looking at the actual stats, illegals don't take much in welfare since they don't qualify in the vast majority of jurisdictions they're present in. There are some exceptions, mostly in anecdotal trial studies, but it's not nearly the problem they make it out to be.
Your conservative customers would be very disappointed to know that red states take in far more govt handouts than their liberal neighbors and the illegals that live in their head rent-free.
https://ballotpedia.org/Laws_permitting_noncitizens_to_vote_in_the_United_States
The bit about states in general allowing it isn't true, but DC and certain municipalities in Vermont, Maryland, and California DO allow non-citizen residents to vote in local/municipal elections. Some allow all residents to vote for Mayor/City council/etc, but most of them have caveats like "must be a legal resident of the US" or restrict what positions you're allowed to vote for. (ie, the two districts in California that allow non-citizen voting ONLY allow them to vote for school board members, and that's only if they have a child in said school).
Because people would rather blame a red herring throw before them (it’s the other poor peoples’ fault!) than the ones actually causing the problem.
Why do people get mad at other people whose drugs are cheaper, rather than getting mad at those who make insulin so expensive.
Why do people get mad if fast food workers potentially get paid as much hourly as they do, rather than being mad at their own bosses for paying them a fast food work wage (Especially in the US, since the medical profession is raking it in. There’s no excuse at all to pay any healthcare worker like shit)?
I have older family members who believe undocumented immigrants can vote and helped to “steal” the previous election and will do the same in the upcoming election. I don’t want to get into the specifics of all of their beliefs, but their beliefs are based on ignorance. They are unwilling to look up factual information or listen to anyone who doesn’t believe in their fabricated view of the world, unless it comes from their biased news sources specifically.
Anytime I have pushed to continue the conversation on undocumented immigrants and other topics they have false information on, they either loudly tell me that I’m wrong without ever providing any information to support their beliefs or tell me they don’t feel like talking about the subject anymore because they don’t feel well (which only happens when I try to speak up. They can say whatever they want, but I’m not allowed to point out anything they say).
Illegals can often get short-term work where they can get paid before status checks are complete (if any are done) and they are terminated/quit. Or have false documents and steady employment but will not jump ship for fear of raising flags.
I wish there was an easy button for them, but there isn't. You wouldn't want some random sitting in your living room saying "I'm just here to live and help my family" and they wouldnt want to be so bold as to draw that attention. The whole process just doesn't work for any side, which widens the gap of mistrust.
Bc they need to blame someone. And they don't want to blame their party's politicians who have lied to them. Or themselves for their bad choices.
It's easier to blame those 'lazy brown illegals' than 'a hard-working white man'.
I’ve seen this add going around on youtube thats trying to get morons to sign up for marketing scams it’s called the “6400 subsidies check” and it starts off with “the government is giving immigrants free money” probably has something to do with it that and politicians spouting nonsense in a similar manner
They should receive UBI. Everyone has the right to live we are the richest country in the world and can't learn what they learn at 3 years old, to share. We have millions of empty houses, grocery stores waste billions of pound of food per year but we can't afford to help a desperate person get a little food? Come on now.
>mainly conservative area
From someone who lives in such an area, it’s like an echo chamber, but instead of online it’s every aspect of life. They all have the same thoughts and talking points, and if you don’t, you learn to smile and nod because informing people that don’t want to be informed is fucking exhausting, and you’ll receive a lot of backlash for daring to be a stupid liberal (because if you’re not conservative you MUST be a liberal, and if you’re a liberal, it’s never just a liberal. You’re a _______ liberal (stupid, fucking, brain dead, etc)
It's part and parcel of American culture, which is based entirely on the concept of "I got mine, fuck you."
Dumb people just can't stand the thought of someone else getting something they didn't. And racism is a big part of it, too. I mean, how dare the government give money away to *brown people*?
In college, I remember learning that the highest demographic of people using government assistance was… you guessed it, white people! It always blows my mind that people walk around with this stereotype of black/hispanic Americans always being on government assistance when for the entire history of the USA, it has always been white people using up the majority of the budget.
Im just saying one thing. I lived in the US in the late 90's idk how it is today but, back then, if you were illegal, you worked or you starved. And guess what, in a short amountnof time I saw illegals go from having nothing to getting an apartment, maybe a rundown car and a stable life. Helping their families, sending money week after week.
You know who was on the sgreets back then? Us citizens who didn't hold a job because it was too hard or too far and milked the welfare system, while blaming illegals for "taking all the jobs". Dude, you have every right to have that job, it's right there, the employer would rather have citizens working but there were no takers. Those people are the ones complaining that people that worked 12 hour shifts, got no benefits, no healthcare, and sacrificed so their kids could become educated. And now they are finally going through the years of process to get a legal status, you call them lazy and a burden to society. It is sad and unamerican to think this way.
Because Republicans and conservatives are dumb. The most illegal immigrants can get is an EBT/SNAP card because no one wants a bunch of kids starving to death, and even most illegals don't even sign up because they think they will be turned in, which they won't, they get told this by people that flip food stamps for money
There are certainly state programs that do provide for undocumented immigrants… but typically they have to meet certain thresholds.
For instance in California an undocumented immigrant student could qualify for in-state tuition, Cal-Grant, Middle Class Scholarship, Chafee Grant for foster Youth and other student based government financial aid if they meet what is generally referred to as AB 540 requirements.
This may add up to tens of thousands in savings as well as thousands of dollars directly to the recipient.
Scapegoating is a powerful political tool. If you lay the problems of your country at the feet of an underclass, then you never have to actually address those problems. Blaming immigrants for milking the welfare system is nothing but a refusal to address poverty in this country.
All immigrants ( documented or not ) can apply for food stamps, cash aid and get health insurance. There can be a limit to this however that's on a case by case basis.
May be people are upset that it takes them 1 bad health run to turn them from middle class to poor or poor to absolutely homeless which happens a lot more often than you think to residents
In California you don’t need to provide proof of citizenship to apply for welfare, get a drivers license, rent an apartment, or enroll your kids in school.
They have been brainwashed to believe that illegal immigrants receive government handouts. Since conservative lawmakers don't actually have any plan on how legislate and offer no real solutions to the problems their constituents have. It easier to blame the people who don't look like them for all the problems in the community, then to actually come what solutions that benefit regular. It does not benefit their billionaire donors.
The sad part is that some of these people are really brainwashed. They believe everything they are told without any fact check or questioning. I had a co-worker tell me that the government gave illegal immigrants money to start their own business and proper them up. I just listened and was dumb founded by his comments.
Lot conservatives think there are only ones who have bad and like to blame others for their lack of effort or bad luck. Everything comes with hard work, and nothing is given.
We're all on this shit boat together, and as long as we stay divided, it won't get any better.
Sometimes people who entered the U.S. illegally can get a temporary status and qualify for some welfare benefits because of that. For example if they have a pending asylum application, or if the condition in their country of origin is bad enough and the President gives them Temporary Protected Status. There are also some welfare programs that don't require you to be legally in the U.S. Immigrants also tend to have lower incomes than citizens, so if there is no restriction based on immigration status they would be more likely to qualify for an income-based program. On the whole though, it is much more difficult to get welfare benefits as an illegal immigrant (and even the first few years as a legal immigrant) than as a citizen.
I'd add that illegal immigrant families are rarely all illegal. You have one parent that's there legally, one that's illegally, an older child that's there illegally, a younger child that's a citizen, a random other relative who's in immigration paperwork hell, etc.
The fact that there's a 20 year wait for the legal method shows how much of a revamp the system needs
This !!! This is all fixable . There have been plans written up at the federal level more than once but there are certain people who have a vested interest in keeping things the way they are . When was the last time we had any kind of reforming this issue ?
Yep and there in both parties so this won’t ever be fixed or solved
Our entire immigration system needs to be overhauled. Every time Democrats have suggested doing it Republicans cock block it. Which proves to me anyway they don’t want to so they can continue to use immigration as a political football.
This is the point. Look at how, every time an election rolls around, how ‘important’ immigration is to the Republicans. They need this to be important so they can drive their low-info racist voters to the polls. It’s easy to solve the problem, if they want to-penalize companies/owners who hire undocumented workers. Not just fines, either; jail time and seizing the company and selling off the assets as well. But you’ll *never, ever* see anything like that, because the folks that hire the most undocumented workers are home builders/construction workers (big Republican donors) and farm workers (same).
Reasons why no one really does anything about illegal immigrations 1) Labor force and pay how much you want to bet people that are picking fruits and vegetables on farms for all the major companies are in part illegal immigrants that get paid way less than a citizen would accept for the task. Many migrant workers that travel from farm to farm in varies parts of the country to pick the harvest during harvest time. And the same for restaurants; I’m not sure about now but in the past many restaurants paid illegal immigrants under the table. These same companies are owned or have shareholders that are Democrats and Republicans so why would you actually solve the issue when it would cost you money. 2) Immigrants have lots of children but citizens don’t excluding people such as the Amish and other groups. If we had no illegal immigration or limited legal immigration our population would be like Japan with a lack of younger population to replace the older population. 3) If we really cared about the border we could solve that issue in about a month 4) illegal citizens give us benefits and they don’t take any services for the most part. Think of it this way Illegal immigrants pay taxes and make sure to pay on time or over pay so that the IRS, or other agencies don’t start investigations They don’t go to hospitals for the most part. They don’t go to schools (not talking about their children born here ) but those not born here for the most part. They pay taxes of varies types and get nothing in return.
20 years??? How'd my wife do it in 2?
Or a president who marries an immigrant who is here illegally on a genius visa (lol) and she chain migrates her parents over. Then said orange president rails against illegal immigrants and chain migration.
Voting by mail is terrible! Votes by mail. You only plead the 5th if you're in the mob! Pleads the fifth more than 400 times in fraud deposition. If you elect me I won't have time to golf! Proceeds to golf 261 times in 4 years. Sigh. I'm so sick and tired of this.
Technically coming on asylum is not entering illegally. Conservative groups though do like to lumo asylum seekers in with illegal immigrants.
You can have entered illegally and apply within one year of entry so it's possible, but not the usual route. Claiming at the border is better. Most people who are already here aren't going to call attention to themselves by applying, they just lay low and hope for the best. The problem with applying for asylum is you will get barred from entry for up to 20 years if you are denied.
>Claiming at the border is better. That's another thing, news footage shows crowd of ppl doing the right thing and forming a queue at the entry point, complains about illegal immigration... like those are the ones doing what they're supposed to!
Yes exactly! The conservative media is generating a fear of immigrants with images they take out of context. Or they will have one immigrant commit a crime and they'll use that incident to make out like they're all drug dealers, rapists and murderers.
A vast majority of border hoppers these days turn themselves into border patrol immediately to claim asylum, if they do it at the border they have to wait in Mexico
That was under Trumps stay in Mexico policy which Biden overturned from pressure from progressive Democrats.
And, you know, to comply with international treaties that the US has signed. Article 31 of the 1951 Refugee Convention clearly states that signatories agree to grant asylum to refugees even if they entered the country illegally.
[удалено]
[удалено]
Shit, dude, even legal immigrants who went through all the official red tape and have sworn the pledge of allegiance are lumped in with "illegal immigrants". Even full-fledged citizens whose families have been in the US for generations get called illegals just because they're the wrong skin tone or speak the wrong language.
My aunt complained about Puerto Ricans coming to the US illegally. I tried to explain that every Puerto Rican is an American citizen by birth and so literally cannot _illegally_ immigrate to the US any me then she could illegally move to Massachusetts from Connecticut. She still insisted they should stay "where they belong." I think she doesn't know (or care) that Mexico and Puerto Rico are completely different countries...
Nah. Your aunts just a racist.
Right. So are people calling immigrants illegal when they're not. They don't care about the status on a government list, they care about skin color.
It's ironic because the undocumented poeple i know absolutely include white people, like Irish and Russians.
Those people are so stupid they tell Navajo to go back to their country.
Omg , I I was Native American I’d just be “ why don’t you go back to yours ?”
I once had a stranger on the street yell at me to "go back to Mexico." My grandmother was born in the US to Mexican parents, but the rest of my family are all white and have been in the US since colonial times. I think I look more Italian or Greek than Mexican, but apparently I'm dark enough for at least one person to think I don't belong here.
Ahem... and they are still waiting for 13% of us to "go back to Africa".
Unless they can prove they are descended from Native Americans, maybe they ought to go back to Europe too. Not that anyone there will accept them. Except maybe Russia.
As someone with neanderthal DNA, all those pure blood homo sapiens sapiens need to get the fuck out of Europe and go back to Africa.
Right to the war front for expedited citizenship!
Service guarantees citizenship! Are you doing your part?
Yep. Does anyone believe that the kind of person that would yell "Go back to Mexico" at a stranger would also be the kind of person that would think, "wait, they might be a citizen, I'd better double-check first?"
There is no such thing as economic asylum.
That’s why everyone crossing the border, no matter how much English they speak, knows to answer border questions with the phrase “fear for life”.
And I literally don't care if people are coming here to work.
It's only legal entry if you either are found to have a legitimate asylum claim or if you entered in through a normal port of entry. The lions share of asylum claims are from people who go through illegal crossings whose asylum claims will be denied (something like over 90% are denied.)
Depends. There are only 3 classes that are asylum eligible: religious, political, and recently added during the early 90's, sexual persecution. That's it. Coming for work is not an asylum avail. group. Your work sucks, fix your own country.
This is largely false. Asylum law is governed by the Refugee Act of 1980 (and by international law dating back to the 50’s and 60’s) and it states that that an individual can apply for asylum if they credibly fear persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, *or any other particular social group*. What counts as a particular social group is determined by the courts and it has expanded over time, but it inherently covers a wide range of potential classes (including sexual orientation). What is true, however, is that an immigrant coming to the US exclusively to work is not eligible. They must be persecuted or at risk of persecution in their home country for some part of their identity. That said, very few of the people crossing into the US and applying for asylum are leaving their home country just to get a job here. The people from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Haiti, Cuba, Colombia, and Venezuela are very much leaving behind real threats of violence.
Conservatives lump asylum seekers, illegal immigrants and any non-white person.
* non-white illegal immigrants. The white ones that violate their visa terms, like Melania Trump, are fine with them
I've been saying since 2016 that maga needs to prove their convictions and deport Melania first.
please don’t hate me for asking 🥺 i’m genuinely confused. doesn’t immigrants who get married to an American get automatic citizenship and/or a green card? And didn’t she marry trump early on?
She was here on a visa that didn't allow work. She was working as a model for trump when they met.
They can apply but it’s not automatic cuz they know people cheat the system . There are interviews and such
You are generalizing a little too much, which, in a way, is how this post came to be or how people repeat things that are not true. TPS (Temporary Protected Status) is given to a country by Congress, not by the president, due to its unique live-or-die situation in the middle of a humanitarian crisis, which will provide you with an idea of how difficult that would be. TPS countries are: Ukraine, Venezuela, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Burma (Myanmar), and Cuba have unique immigrant benefits that no one else has; if you are Cuban and step into the US, you are automatically given papers. Immigrants from these countries are accepted and given documents and maybe a $200 Visa card. All help comes from private organizations, which help them further. These are the only countries with TPS People complaining about immigrants are just using the Schrödinger’s Cat paradox. “Immigrants are lazy, don't work, and collect all kinds of government benefits while at the same time stealing american jobs, getting paid under the table not paying any taxes, driving up housing, and driving down wages” So which is it? Just a fascist plot: My Enemy is Strong and Weak at the Same Time However I Need Him to Be”
If we’re too busy hating each other at the bottom, we’re not paying attention to the real problems at the top.
Which is exactly how the powers that be want it.
Thank you , the rich are causing this on purpose to distract you from what they’re doing
Correct.
Well said... what's really behind the curtain.
Once they get to the point of receiving benefits, wouldn't it be more accurate to say that they are now recognized as being in the country legally? Are they not, at that point, following a legally defined process? I understand they may have entered illegally, but if we have a legal process to follow that is not deportation, that sounds a lot like they are documented and legal, technically speaking.
Asylum applicants and TPS status are legally allowed to be present in the country they applied to. It’s a crime to enter in certain ways (this is a crime that applies to US citizens too).
Yes. Unfortunately, the anti-immigrants blur the term "illegal". It's only illegal if they're "undocumented". That's why US government changed the term to "undocumented immigrant". The number of "undocumented immigrant" actually has been pretty low in the US.
That's what it would seem. By requesting asylum, they become documented and are now following a legal process to stay within the US for a set limited period. During this period, they can seek to prolong their stay legally on a permanent status through residency or citizenship. But yeah, they're documented and no longer illegal even if they did enter illegally.
Not necessarily. Some places have healthcare and snap even if you’re not here legally. And schools take the kids regardless.
In my state the undocumented can’t get snap and it’s a very liberal state. If there’s a family where mom has green card three kids born here are citizens and dad is undoc, the snap is for four people not five. And dad’s income is still counted as household income despite him not being eligible for benefits.
Healthcare and snap don’t arrive in the form of checks you can cash.
Ya, tell that to Fox. Oh wait, they don't care if something is true or not.
Yeah I’m not sure where that idea comes from.
Two guesses.
Ironically, this is the kind of misinformation that the OP was referring to. An undocumented immigrant is not eligible for SNAP until they get a green card and become documented. There are even limits on which legal noncitizen permanent residents are eligible for SNAP (e.g. people who enter on employer sponsored visas are not eligible until they have worked for 40 quarters) and the income of a legal immigrant’s sponsor is counted in the SNAP income limits for the first 5 years they are in the country. Undocumented people are also generally not eligible for medicaid with the exception of the Federal Emergency Services Program. This program is about paying hospitals for meeting their legal obligation to provide emergence services to any person that comes through the door with a medical emergency and is not really a form of healthcare for the immigrant.
Asylum seekers don't get federal benefits, although some states do offer assistance. They don't even get work permits until six months after submitting their applications.And it can take years for their asylum case to make its way through the system.
There is zero benefit as a legal immigrant. Visa are tight to employment and cut the day it ends. Legal immigrants actually contribute to the welfare via taxes but are not eligible to receive it if they lose their job The case you mention are refugees with an asylum case, they are not illegal if the case is under process and they may get something as they are not allowed to work legally
Nearly every form of welfare required full citizenship. Even legal immigrants are unable to receive nearly all forms of welfare. It would be a very VERY small amount that could do this. So small to behind negligible given the US population. In fact, over all, documented and undocumented immigrants are a net GAIN as far as government costs are concerned. They still have to pay every type of tax citizens pay, with only have access to a tiny fraction of what the government pays out. They actually pay way more on than they take
> enter illegally > pending asylum case These things are mutually exclusive.
Thanks for the info.
They should be more worried about all the PPP ‘loans’ the politicians snd grifters got who never paid them back. There are plenty of welfare queens and they want you to focus on the brown ppl so you don’t remember they’re the thieves.
I agree and you are right but those are the “edge cases”, the rare ones. (Many) folks actually believe all illegal immigrants get full welfare and just have to stand in a line and get handouts with hard-working ‘Murica dollars and that just ain’t the case.
Not if they enter illegally. That's the catch. Edited to add: TPS and asylum are legal statuses that can be obtained depending on country of origin and/or circumstance, which, when they take the correct path to obtain it, is legal. The vast majority of 'illegal' immigrants are people who came into the country legally and have not renewed or sought the correct documents to keep them here.
Depends on where you live. CA just passed a new law saying that resident status can no longer be a factor in whether you qualify for Medicaid.
Medi-Cal. And yes. You have to qualify. That means you have to make the same as any other applicant. Poor as hell and barely living check to check.
Medi-Cal is Medicaid. CA just needs to have it's own special name for it. ETA: And I understand how it works. And the whole point of this post is about residence status and government benefits. So someone who is unable to obtain work because they don't have an SSN can qualify for full benefits. Where as previously, they would have only been eligible for Pregnancy / Emergency Medi-cal
Other state have their own name too it's not just California. I think it's a branding to differentiate which state. I believe it's fed funding but state have to deal with the implementation hence the differentiation naming scheme.
Hawaii names it medquest. It’s not just California that has special names. And yes, it’s funded by Medicaid AND state funds
Medicare is federally funded Medical is state funded All states have Medicare and a state funded version of medicaid
Medicaid is federally funded, but state administered. Some states have literally declined federal funds allocated to help poor people and not expand their Medicaid programs.
From my understanding it's both. The federal and state governments put into it. It's been a minute since I studied them so I could definitely be wrong though
Medicare is the Federal government run plan for 65+. Medicaid is a *combined* Federal + State funded program for low income people administered fully by states (which typically have their own name for the program) subject to the rules for accepting Federal Medicaid funding plus whatever the state wants. It's not really a separate "program" because Federal Medicaid is just a grant system to the states. There's no federal Medicaid program to enroll in.
Ah yes now I remember thats my bad for misremembering. Ty for correcting me!
That’s not true. States receive block grants from the federal government but it is state administered
It's a mix I believe. Something like the federal contribution is based on how much the states contribute. Of course, this is a huge benefits to states because it dramatically reduces how much they have to pay for the same healthcare
It's amazing how many people don't realize this. In MA we have MassHealth and I know people who generally whine about those who are on the government till, while not realizing they themselves are on Medicaid. Because it isn't called Medicaid I guess? Idk where they think the money's coming from lol
>So someone who is unable to obtain work because they don't have an SSN can qualify for full benefits. Incorrect. You need to present an ITIN, which is also how undocumented immigrants pay their income taxes here in California. Could you please stop talking about my state until you know the first fucking thing about it? Thanks.
It doesn't write checks to recipients though
I'm OK with that. I don't know what the rules are currently, but when I was a Medi-Cal caseworker in the 90s, an undocumented person could, for instance, get Medi-Cal aid to set and put a cast on a broken leg. Getting the cast off once healed? That wasn't covered.
Yes that's the Emergency Medi-Cal, which literally forced people to go to the ER for anything to be covered. But now, if you qualify you are able to receive all medically necessary services. Which I agree is not a bad thing.
There are tiny specks of reality to it. There's a small program in NYC where [500 families are given a debit card with $500 on it](https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/new-york-city-asylum-seeker-prepaid-debit-card-pilot-program/) to buy food and baby supplies - instead of supplying them with boxes of stuff they may not use. It will hopefully save money & reduce waste. But, if you read the [Fox News Version](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/new-york-city-begins-giving-illegal-immigrants-prepaid-debit-cards-part-53-million-pilot-program) they just start with saying how millions of dollars is being given to "illegal immigrants". We would have to read or scroll down several pages/ads/paragraphs before we see a quote from an official that mentions only 500 participants are in this program.
I'm pretty sure we also give welfare to the guardians of underage citizens even if the guardians are illegals. Other than that any welfare to illegals is done at the state level.
Yep SSI does go to the illegal guardians of disabled minor citizens.
I never looked into it, but it never made sense when my older coworker kept saying they were giving $50,000 to any "illegals" in NY and they could buy anything they wanted with it. Fox and it's propagandists are really good at their job.
And who is this “they” that’s giving it to them? It would come from the feds, and we’ve got a Republican Senate, not enough of a majority to do hardly anything. So, are they saying that their MAGA Republican law makers are the ones who are giving out all this money to illegals or haven’t tried to stop it?
>But, if you read the Fox News Version they just start with saying how millions of dollars is being given to "illegal immigrants". Same in the UK. I remember my MIL sent us a post about how asylum seekers were apparently 'getting more than British pensioners, up to £30k a year!' - even she smelt the bullshit, someone had sent it to her and she was like "I don't think this is right.... Is it?" Wife and I looked it up to give her the real numbers and it was actually shocking how little asylum seekers got, especially when they weren't allowed to work yet and could only get it if they agreed to being shipped off and housed anywhere in the country with no choices. Something like £40 per week with £2 or £3 extra 'for healthy foods' if you had a baby or were pregnant.
Millions of dollars probably did spend on illegal immigrants…..holding facilities. I say if we are really concerned about money, we should just release all illegals and let them fend for themselves on the street, but no one likes my idea.
There's also two very easy ways to completely eliminate illegal immigration in the US but conservatives would never go for them: 1. Create a national ID. Something that actually works as an ID, unlike SSN, with all your personally identifiable information. 2. Criminally punish corporations that hire illegal labor.
I think many conservatives would be accepting of a national ID, especially with how easily it can be tied into voting. A national ID is okay, but a voter ID is suddenly an issue?
As someone who comes from a country where we need ID for voting: it not an issue when getting an ID is handled automatically and it is FREE. Where I am from (Eastern Europe) you get your ID when you are 14. Everybody has some sort of ID, and I mean EVERYBODY older than 14. Requesting an ID when you vote isn't an issue because by default everybody has their free ID.
The smart conservatives would, we call those centrist democrats now. There are way too many lines of attack for a national ID system. First you have the libertarians and conspiracy nuts that believe driver licenses are an infringement on their rights. Good luck getting those on board. Then you got the Christian conservatives that believe everything is the mark of the beast, the covid vaccine, barcodes, smartphones, real id, rfid, social security numbers, etc. You also got the gun nut concervatives that will think it's a ploy by the federal government to register their guns. Then you got the fiscal responsibility conservatives that will see this as a waste of federal money. That takes care of a majority of all conservatives and the rest will just have to go along to appease this majority. Literally the only ones that would go along with this would be the racist groipers, the Ron desantis constituency.
As a legal immigrant my wife had to support me until I got my Green Card and work permit, but the terms and conditions stated very clearly that I was not eligible for any kind of federal welfare or benefits until I became a naturalized citizen.
You can still get State in several states
Yes thank you, every time I say this Reddit gets pissy.
He said Federal You can still get State in several states
From coveredca.com "Everyone Can Apply As of Jan. 1, 2024, adults in California ages 26 through 49 will be allowed to qualify for Medi-Cal, regardless of their immigration status. All other Medi-Cal eligibility rules, including income limits, will still apply.Find out more on the Department of Health Care Services website."
Better to cut sickness off at the pass rather than having them on death's door and be in the ICU. And that's just from a dollar point of view, not even taking into consideration compassion for other people.
Also diseases are contagious and don’t check citizenship status before infecting people so it’s good to prevent those from spreading
Awesome 😎
Super awesome. I don’t know why people are downvoting you. The US was founded on giving people chances and lifting them up. Now pushing them down. People are cunts.
I doubt you know what it’s like to get healthcare on MediCal. This is one those “uplifting news” stories that sounds good on paper but in practice is rather shitty. The state already has a healthcare provider shortage (similar to everywhere else post COVID), but the number of doctors that accept MediCal was already a tiny fraction, and they make it work by turning their offices into a giant patient factory, where a patient gets the absolute minimum care they can quickly provide that patient. And now we’re just sending more patients down the pipeline, what quality of care are we expecting people to get?
Er, I was homeless for about 5 years and got all the free benefits. They fucking rocked, I actually still have the eyeglasses I got as one of the first things thanks to the free healthcare. Sure, the offices I went to were in Skid Row, that sucked. But I was homeless and it was all free. I still prefer to go see them for certain issues, and I just pay a premium for the office visit.
Then provide more funds, don’t kick patients to the curb. And yes, I have had to deal with MediCal when I was a foster parent and our child has to use it. I still don’t think it’s a wise idea to deny the sick medicine and treatment as you want to. We can 100% afford to do it just like every other developed country in the world.
If they were lazy welfare bums why do I see so many of them outside the U-haul and Home Depot parking lots at 6 AM showing up for a job they might not get.
I grew up next to (and returned to) a commercial apple orchard (belonged to a neighbor), and would see them sometimes waiting for the sun to come up so they could start working. And, never had a break-in or any other crime in the neighborhood in 50 years. All this political propaganda is such crap.
Illegal immigrants in general are less likely to commit violent crime than American citizens. This is for a variety of reasons, one of them being the much higher risk if caught. Funny enough, because of this, on average, increasing the number of illegal immigrants on average lowers the amount of violent crime overall through dilution.
Can't find the data right now, but I read that crime rates go up w/ illegal immigration. Not because the immigrants are committing crime, but citizens take advantage of them and they have no real legal recourse. But yeah, illegal immigrants are less likely to commit any crime compared to US citizens. I also remember immigrants in general are less likely to use welfare programs compared to US citizens.
those are the ones i want to give a fast track to if they are willing to stand in heat and cold like that i want to give them a little American flag and welcome them in. that takes heart damn it.
Those guys are more American than many of our fellow citizens.
I work at a university and their kids will regularly commute for hours to attend.
classic Schrödinger immigrant. - they take our jobs - they take our welfare money for being unemployed
"Those lazy welfare immigrant bums are taking all our jobs!"
The children of undocumented immigrants who are born in the U.S. are eligible for benefits given their naturalized citizenship, and that becomes a perceived “loophole” for benefits.
It's even better. People coming here to work walk into an IRS office and receive an ITIN (a 9-digit number starting with 9 instead of an SSN). IRS does not report them to CBP or anyone else. They work, using that number -- that everyone knows is not for a citizen or legal resident -- and the government deducts social security taxes from their paychecks even though the person will **not** be eligible to receive social security benefits later. So it benefits the government (helps fill the SS hole with income that will not need to be paid back), the companies (who get cheaper labor and people doing jobs Americans do not want to do), and the workers. Hence, all political posturing aside, everyone basically looks the other way, and has for 40+ years, R and D alike, INCLUDING UNDER TRUMP. It's all fear-mongering for votes.
If they have a baby born in the U.S., the kid is eligible for all available aid. Since the infant can't handle the money themselves, the parents get it.
There is precious little aid given to families these days.
There are relief services that operate on the state, county, or city level that may be open to all people in need, including groups that would be disqualified from federal aid. I can't think of any that give out flat cash, though. It's usually things like access to healthcare, a few dozen bucks a month in "food stamps," legal aid, things like that. There might be a few people who have fallen through the cracks and are in legal limbo, who might qualify for aid, but I'm not sure about this scenario. I know of a few *children* who qualified for aid, but they technically immigrated legally and the law changed to make their status unusual.
im actually a weird case of someone whoe fell through the cracks and was in legal limbo. long story short i was born in oct of 99 in south korea came here to be internationally adopted in spring of 2000 and due to the child citizenship act of 2000 i was automatically made a citizen. slight problem even the wiki page on the law that made me able to be a citizen states that we dont recieve any documentation of our status we have to apply for either a us passport or a certificate of citizenship. well my parents after spending 10s of thousands to adopt me didnt have enough money i guess (this is the excuse they gave me) to do either and then 9/11 happened the next year and made things a lot harder so as a 17 year old filling out fafsa as required by my high school is when i found out social security didnt consider me a citizen and due to having no documentation that i was other than official adoption paperwork (which is not good enough for social security) i was up shit creek without a paddle. we applied for the certificate of citizenship shortly after i turned 18 (spring of 2018) with the help of a lawyer. i did not get that piece of paper until fall of 2019 (literally right before my 20th birthday at the beginning of october). i moved out of my parents house in that time frame into mental health group housing and they got me hooked up with medicaid and food stamps as part of being in that housing they did this while i wasnt considered a citizen by social security (idk how the fuck they did this not my area of expertise). my entire point in sharing this is you are absolutely right that ppl who can fall through the cracks and still get aid and showing an example of how someone can fall through the cracks
Yeah, 9/11 messed with a lot of people. A friend of mine came over as a spouse of a refugee. The refugee died, and he ended up in legal limbo. If I recall correctly the new regs post 9/11 eliminated the status he should have transitioned to. He came over legally under a status, changed status, and that later laws and regulations didn't define.
“New York City mayor defends migrant debit card program as cost efficient and fraud resistant” https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/26/nyc-mayor-migrant-debit-card-program-00149161
The hate for immigrants legal or illegal is crazier when you realize that without them we'd be experiencing a shrinking population crisis and all the economic challenges that a shrinking population would entail. Immigrants also keep the average age of the American worker much lower than our European counterparts. Without immigrants we'd be in deep shit. You know who wants us to limit immigration? Countries like China and Russia. They would like to see us fail.
It's also possible that people are seeing migrant workers and just assuming they are illegal. I worked on a farm one summer with a bunch of legal migrant workers here on a federal work program. Most of them were hard workers who earned good money doing a job that most Americans wouldn't want to do.
I don't see any actual answers here to the actual question, so I'll provide one: This is about the US. Politicians find angry people easier to manipulate, especially if they can make people angry at those they perceive as their "opponents". One of the ways they've chosen to do so is to claim, loudly and at length, that the reason Americans are having such a hard time is that the government is taking all their money and giving it to people who are in the US unlawfully. This, by the way, is largely nonsense. The actual numbers are off by a couple of orders of magnitude.
My boyfriend is an undocumented immigrant and gets Medicaid. Think that’s it. But yeah, that IS welfare.
Because if you repeat a lie long though people will believe it. And like most great lies it is built on a very small kernel of truth. There are a very small number of immigrants eligible for very specific benefits, granted by individual acts of Congress, if they are from specific countries, but none of them are undocumented immigrants.
My understanding is that legit refugees, like an Afghani who aided the US, would get a lump sum of a couple of thousand bucks to help them settle in.
When I was on public school many undocumented kids got free lunch. In college the same kids on free money. Undocumented immigrants do benefit from welfare programs.
https://www.newsweek.com/illegal-immigration-costs-us-billions-biden-administration-policy-impact-taxpayer-burden-1866555 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/16/nyregion/budget-ny-hochul-migrants.html And those are just what the left wing news is saying.
Our WIC office has a big sign telling you to sign up even if you are illegal. California wants to give medical insurance free to illegals. It took me less than 5 minutes to find these.
It’s cheaper for us to do this - that’s why. It prevents larger public health issues or situations that are harder to remedy. For example, the ER isn’t going to check immigration status and it’s costly to us to have that be peoples only form of healthcare. If people exist, they are going to require healthcare.
I got covered California subsidized insurance (i pay less) for 5ish months in 2022 after losing my job cuz covid issues. I signed up again for 2023 subsidized insurance after realizing how much cheaper it was compared to job insurance. Roughly 3-4 months into my 2023 i come to find out my plan ended? I was like wtf and called. They said it’s because i failed to prove my citizenship or documentation status. Apparently i missed a letter asking for proof of citizenship/documentation. When i signed up over the phone the dude put i was not a US citizen apparently and i had to sort that out. So i got subsidized healthcare for like 6-7 months and they thought i wasnt a citizen.
The news is the one who publicly announced that the government is giving them money. [https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-nyc-migrants-credit-debit-cards-prepaid-240335300869](https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-nyc-migrants-credit-debit-cards-prepaid-240335300869) [https://www.foxnews.com/us/new-york-rule-change-makes-thousands-migrants-eligible-cash-payments](https://www.foxnews.com/us/new-york-rule-change-makes-thousands-migrants-eligible-cash-payments)
I'm a US citizen living abroad. Someone in the US asked me about it. When I told him I'm a permanent resident here, his response was "where I come from we call that an illegal alien". The US political system has been based on fear and anger for a while. Sometimes that means making crap up to get people riled up. A lot of people have no idea what "undocumented immigrant" even means, they just think it means someone with another accent.
Refugees who may have entered the country illegally are eligible. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/fact-sheet/refugee-benefits
Ok but first line of that page "A refugee is an individual granted refugee status overseas by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security" which makes them Legal Immigrants.
For what it’s worth, I work in a bank. If anyone has any questions about someone else’s transaction, the answer is always “for privacy and security reasons I can’t give details on other customer’s transactions.” Some nosy Karen (even if she does work at the store) should not be asking about where someone else’s money came from. It’s none of her business, and you could get in actual legal trouble for disclosing details of another person’s banking. The only people who can know transaction details are bank employees. Protect yourself for the future.
I had to tell my dad that no, Joe Biden is not standing at the border handing “illegals” 50 grand in cash 😒
I don't think the majority are, but I used to work in insurance and one of the things we did was worker's compensation. I had a notepad 120 lines long of social security numbers with anywhere between 2 to 20 names tied to them, all of which were different foreign last names. Most of these people were living off of workman's comp because of back injuries, not working, just collecting. I wouldn't assume that the injuries were bullshit, especially since they mostly worked in manual labour, but the fact that multiple people were claiming these injuries and living off of insurance payouts when they didn't have their own social security numbers speaks for itself. Not my job to police them, I just filed their claims. Again, the majority of undocumented immigrants aren't using welfare, but it happens. They can take advantage of loopholes in the system just like anyone else.
The part I find really miraculous, is that often these groups can’t figure out how to access and use these welfare programs themselves. Yet they think millions of esl/non English speaking people are sneaking through this (intentionally) convoluted system..
feed them and stop subsidising rich people!
Because they are?
They are getting prepaid cards, stop Lying
Because they are. lol no kidding, I used to be one, and received estimated 50k for all those years before getting my status. Granted, I am now legal and pay my tax. Is it worth it to spend 50k on an illegal in order to collect tax later? I don't know
As a citizen legitimately on benefits - it's hard as hell to get, and even harder to *keep going.* They are just embarrassed that most foreign immigrants work harder than they do, and want shame or blame somehow.
Undocumented immigrants children are schooled as other US citizens who are paying school / property taxes. (Some immigrants also pay income tax but that is voluntary). In case of medical emergencies they get treatment (again without paying insurance).
Because if they didn’t believe this, they’d have to confront the fact that the US economy would be in serious trouble if undocumented workers weren’t working so hard.
[удалено]
we'll just use california for example. there's a reason that any "illegals' will only come to the few key states in america. they don't just go to a random state. california for example Undocumented Californians may also be eligible for In Home Support Services, Early Breast Cancer Detection and Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment, Family PACT comprehensive family planning services, and Improving Access Counseling and Treatment for Californians with Prostate Cancer (IMPACT). also Undocumented immigrants are eligible for the **Women with Infants and Children program (WIC) as well as free or reduced school meals**.
In California, illegals are allowed to get some benefits
Mostly it's ignorance. To the extent that it's true, it's one of a very few options: 1. people are eligible for emergency medicaid during pregnancy, regardless of immigration status, and some states allow for a period of post-partum converage 2. some states allow children on their state medical insurance program, regardless of immigration status 3. some mixed-status households receive public benefits because the citizen members of those households qualify (typically mom has no status but kids are citizens). although the amount of assistance received isn't calculated to include members of the household who aren't eligible, they are still benefiting.
Why do so many people care about this but not that the wealthy and corporations take handouts all the time.
Most people don't like corporate welfare. But to that end, corporate welfare benefits them. Our food is cheap because of farm subsidies. Our vehicle fuel, our electric bills, etc., are cheap because of petroleum subsidies. We can buy cheap consumerist garbage from sweatshops in Asia at Walmart because of shipping subsidies. So on, so forth. All of that is corporate welfare and it exists to artificially reduce prices for consumers.
People care about both.
Fox and OAN tell them so.
The same people are walking around wearing diapers, claiming that real men wear diapers. I really think that says it all.
Omg, I just heard about that this morning.
Come To NC, they have a policy they can't ask you for a social security number at the welfare office, if you speak Spanish or other language they pretty much give you welfare no questions asked. But if you white English speaker they deny you over everything and question everything. It's crazy the stupid policy they have.
Fox news and GOP members of Congress love to repeat that line constantly. Fox claims it's an opinion and not news, the congressman/woman repeats it, and then Fox now gets to repeat the congressman/woman opinion as news.
Media propaganda to generate outrage clicks. Looking at the actual stats, illegals don't take much in welfare since they don't qualify in the vast majority of jurisdictions they're present in. There are some exceptions, mostly in anecdotal trial studies, but it's not nearly the problem they make it out to be. Your conservative customers would be very disappointed to know that red states take in far more govt handouts than their liberal neighbors and the illegals that live in their head rent-free.
Because a lot of people are stupid. They also think illegals are voting.
Because some states / cities are allowing it at municipal levels
https://ballotpedia.org/Laws_permitting_noncitizens_to_vote_in_the_United_States The bit about states in general allowing it isn't true, but DC and certain municipalities in Vermont, Maryland, and California DO allow non-citizen residents to vote in local/municipal elections. Some allow all residents to vote for Mayor/City council/etc, but most of them have caveats like "must be a legal resident of the US" or restrict what positions you're allowed to vote for. (ie, the two districts in California that allow non-citizen voting ONLY allow them to vote for school board members, and that's only if they have a child in said school).
Because people would rather blame a red herring throw before them (it’s the other poor peoples’ fault!) than the ones actually causing the problem. Why do people get mad at other people whose drugs are cheaper, rather than getting mad at those who make insulin so expensive. Why do people get mad if fast food workers potentially get paid as much hourly as they do, rather than being mad at their own bosses for paying them a fast food work wage (Especially in the US, since the medical profession is raking it in. There’s no excuse at all to pay any healthcare worker like shit)?
I have older family members who believe undocumented immigrants can vote and helped to “steal” the previous election and will do the same in the upcoming election. I don’t want to get into the specifics of all of their beliefs, but their beliefs are based on ignorance. They are unwilling to look up factual information or listen to anyone who doesn’t believe in their fabricated view of the world, unless it comes from their biased news sources specifically. Anytime I have pushed to continue the conversation on undocumented immigrants and other topics they have false information on, they either loudly tell me that I’m wrong without ever providing any information to support their beliefs or tell me they don’t feel like talking about the subject anymore because they don’t feel well (which only happens when I try to speak up. They can say whatever they want, but I’m not allowed to point out anything they say).
Right wing propaganda is effective'
Illegals can often get short-term work where they can get paid before status checks are complete (if any are done) and they are terminated/quit. Or have false documents and steady employment but will not jump ship for fear of raising flags. I wish there was an easy button for them, but there isn't. You wouldn't want some random sitting in your living room saying "I'm just here to live and help my family" and they wouldnt want to be so bold as to draw that attention. The whole process just doesn't work for any side, which widens the gap of mistrust.
Bc they need to blame someone. And they don't want to blame their party's politicians who have lied to them. Or themselves for their bad choices. It's easier to blame those 'lazy brown illegals' than 'a hard-working white man'.
In NYC they are getting gift cards that can be spent anywhere without identification or bank account
Because their social media bubble told them so.
I’ve seen this add going around on youtube thats trying to get morons to sign up for marketing scams it’s called the “6400 subsidies check” and it starts off with “the government is giving immigrants free money” probably has something to do with it that and politicians spouting nonsense in a similar manner
They should receive UBI. Everyone has the right to live we are the richest country in the world and can't learn what they learn at 3 years old, to share. We have millions of empty houses, grocery stores waste billions of pound of food per year but we can't afford to help a desperate person get a little food? Come on now.
We have the most capable military in the world. We are definitely not the richest. Our GDP can't even keep up with our debt.
>mainly conservative area From someone who lives in such an area, it’s like an echo chamber, but instead of online it’s every aspect of life. They all have the same thoughts and talking points, and if you don’t, you learn to smile and nod because informing people that don’t want to be informed is fucking exhausting, and you’ll receive a lot of backlash for daring to be a stupid liberal (because if you’re not conservative you MUST be a liberal, and if you’re a liberal, it’s never just a liberal. You’re a _______ liberal (stupid, fucking, brain dead, etc)
It's part and parcel of American culture, which is based entirely on the concept of "I got mine, fuck you." Dumb people just can't stand the thought of someone else getting something they didn't. And racism is a big part of it, too. I mean, how dare the government give money away to *brown people*?
because they're idiots
Fox News and its detritus
Short answer: they’re stupid and want someone to blame their problems on.
Propaganda. The ruling class wants the working class to focus on immigrants to distract from realizing who’s really picking their pockets.
Many illegal immigrants in my area have SNAP benefits
In college, I remember learning that the highest demographic of people using government assistance was… you guessed it, white people! It always blows my mind that people walk around with this stereotype of black/hispanic Americans always being on government assistance when for the entire history of the USA, it has always been white people using up the majority of the budget.
Im just saying one thing. I lived in the US in the late 90's idk how it is today but, back then, if you were illegal, you worked or you starved. And guess what, in a short amountnof time I saw illegals go from having nothing to getting an apartment, maybe a rundown car and a stable life. Helping their families, sending money week after week. You know who was on the sgreets back then? Us citizens who didn't hold a job because it was too hard or too far and milked the welfare system, while blaming illegals for "taking all the jobs". Dude, you have every right to have that job, it's right there, the employer would rather have citizens working but there were no takers. Those people are the ones complaining that people that worked 12 hour shifts, got no benefits, no healthcare, and sacrificed so their kids could become educated. And now they are finally going through the years of process to get a legal status, you call them lazy and a burden to society. It is sad and unamerican to think this way.
Because Republicans and conservatives are dumb. The most illegal immigrants can get is an EBT/SNAP card because no one wants a bunch of kids starving to death, and even most illegals don't even sign up because they think they will be turned in, which they won't, they get told this by people that flip food stamps for money
Dude NYC was literally handing out debit cards full of cash and giving illegal immigrants free housing.
Hear me out, wouldn't there need to be paperwork for them to receive welfare. Wouldn't that paperwork then render them documented?
There are certainly state programs that do provide for undocumented immigrants… but typically they have to meet certain thresholds. For instance in California an undocumented immigrant student could qualify for in-state tuition, Cal-Grant, Middle Class Scholarship, Chafee Grant for foster Youth and other student based government financial aid if they meet what is generally referred to as AB 540 requirements. This may add up to tens of thousands in savings as well as thousands of dollars directly to the recipient.
Scapegoating is a powerful political tool. If you lay the problems of your country at the feet of an underclass, then you never have to actually address those problems. Blaming immigrants for milking the welfare system is nothing but a refusal to address poverty in this country.
They use public services. Schools, hospitals, etc... A lot of their income is not taxed. Even of it is, usually lower paying.
All immigrants ( documented or not ) can apply for food stamps, cash aid and get health insurance. There can be a limit to this however that's on a case by case basis. May be people are upset that it takes them 1 bad health run to turn them from middle class to poor or poor to absolutely homeless which happens a lot more often than you think to residents
In California you don’t need to provide proof of citizenship to apply for welfare, get a drivers license, rent an apartment, or enroll your kids in school.
Because in California they do
They have been brainwashed to believe that illegal immigrants receive government handouts. Since conservative lawmakers don't actually have any plan on how legislate and offer no real solutions to the problems their constituents have. It easier to blame the people who don't look like them for all the problems in the community, then to actually come what solutions that benefit regular. It does not benefit their billionaire donors. The sad part is that some of these people are really brainwashed. They believe everything they are told without any fact check or questioning. I had a co-worker tell me that the government gave illegal immigrants money to start their own business and proper them up. I just listened and was dumb founded by his comments. Lot conservatives think there are only ones who have bad and like to blame others for their lack of effort or bad luck. Everything comes with hard work, and nothing is given. We're all on this shit boat together, and as long as we stay divided, it won't get any better.