Most Not An Asset

The Washington Examiner reports results of a new study, based on Census Bureau data, showing large scale immigration is a bad deal for our country. They found 63% of non-citizens living in the U.S. receive some form of means-tested government assistance, aka “welfare.” Key findings:

In 2014, 63 percent of households headed by a non-citizen reported that they used at least one welfare program, compared to 35 percent of native-headed households.

Welfare use drops to 58 percent for non-citizen households and 30 percent for native households if cash payments from the Earned Income Tax Credit are not counted as welfare. EITC recipients pay no federal income tax. Like other welfare, the EITC is a means-tested, anti-poverty program.

Compared to native households, non-citizen households have much higher use of food programs (45 percent vs. 21 percent for natives) and Medicaid (50 percent vs. 23 percent for natives).

Roughly two-thirds of immigrants become a burden on taxpayers. This isn’t an argument for ending immigration but it is an argument for (a) being more selective in who we allow residence and (b) deporting immigrants who use “means-tested, anti-poverty programs.”