Poll: Majority of Hispanics Support Ending Welfare-Dependent Immigration

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A majority of Hispanic Americans support President Trump’s seeking to prevent welfare-dependent legal immigrants from permanently resettling in the United States, a new poll finds.

In August, the Trump administration published a regulation that ensures legal immigrants would be less likely to secure permanent residency in the U.S. if they have used any forms of welfare in the past, including using subsidized healthcare services, food stamps, and public housing — saving American taxpayers billions.

The latest Harvard/Harris Poll finds Hispanic Americans, by a majority of 56 percent, support denying permanent residency to immigrants who are known to have used welfare or are likely to use welfare. Likewise, a majority of 65 percent of Hispanic Americans said illegal aliens should not be allowed to draw from taxpayer-funded welfare programs, as well as 71 percent of black Americans.

Overall, six-in-ten American voters support preventing welfare-dependent legal immigrants from permanently resettling in the U.S., including 62 percent of swing voters, 77 percent of Republicans, 60 percent of moderate voters, and 64 percent of white Americans.

The regulation, known as the “public charge” rule, is particularly popular among working and middle-class Americans who have no college degree. More than six-in-ten of these voters support the public charge rule, along with 65 percent of rural voters and 60 percent of suburban voters.

Almost eight-in-ten American voters, including 80 percent of swing voters, said illegal aliens should not be allowed to use taxpayer-funded welfare benefits, such as free public housing, food stamps, disability checks, and subsidized healthcare.

Even among Democrats and liberals, allowing illegal aliens to draw from public social programs is hugely unpopular. For example, about seven-in-ten Democrat voters said they opposed illegal aliens taking from taxpayer-funded welfare programs. More than six-in-ten liberal voters said the same.

The National Academies of Science released a report two years ago, noting that state and local American taxpayers are billed about $1,600 each year per immigrant to pay for their welfare, and immigrant households consume 33 percent more cash welfare than American citizen households.

A recent Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) study notes that about 63 percent of noncitizen households in the U.S. use at least one form of taxpayer-funded welfare, while only about 35 percent of native-born American households are on welfare. This means that noncitizen households use nearly twice as much welfare as native-born American households.

In California — with the largest noncitizen population in the country at almost 11 million or nearly 30 percent of the state’s total population — more than seven-in-ten, or 72 percent, of households headed by noncitizens are on at least one form of welfare. Compare that to the findings that only about seven-in-twenty, or 35 percent, of native-born households in California are on welfare.

Currently, there is an estimated record high of 44.5 million foreign-born residents living in the U.S. This is nearly quadruple the immigrant population in 2000. The vast majority of those arriving in the country every year are low-skilled legal immigrants who compete against working and middle-class Americans for jobs.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.

Sunday, September 15, 2019