(11-11-2012 03:00 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote: (11-11-2012 02:45 PM)dcCid Wrote: (11-11-2012 02:23 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote: (11-11-2012 01:36 PM)dcCid Wrote: (11-11-2012 12:24 PM)nomad2u2001 Wrote: I think people view the "melting pot" in a different way than I do. It's not that we have one stagnant culture that all immigrants just dissolve into. Every culture adds to the mixture and the mixture changes over time. We're still a melting pot, IMO.
Agree that we still are a melting pot. I am an american mutt.
I also have no problem with the government helping those who are not comfortable with English. Many public schools offer ESOL, but all subjects are still taught in English.
People come here for a better life as they always have, although more now for economic reasons rather than just persecution.
Why do some think this is no longer the case?
Nobody thinks the reason has change but the mechanics have changed.
A good number of Immigrants in the 1800s went home because they could not make it here. Today you don't have to "make it" you can collect welfare, ssi, rent assistance, utility assistance, footstamps/ebt....
I like the idea of opening the borders with the provision that you get no govt assistance outside of school for kids.
You have a point, but not sure I am ready to agree with it.
I assumed that most who came here in the 1800’s had nothing to go home to, nor the ability to get back. But I am now curios and will try to research that.
For food stamps, you have to legally be here for 5 years or more to qualify (with some exceptions). I assume it is the same for other government benefits. And for rental assistance the waiting list is in the years (at least around here). SSI you have to have paid into the system.
I do not know the eligibility criteria for the other programs.
So while there may be some truth to it, my gut reaction is that these programs are not what keeps them here, but is more of a political narrative for a wedge issue to find a scapegoat.
Oh no doubt some use it to scape goat, just like some use the 1% as scape goats. But youre wrong on the 5 years... That might be in some states but California, for example, has not such limitation, its just one year
In CA you qualify if:
Lawful permanent resident (you have a green card)
Refugee, or were granted asylum or withholding of deportation/removal, or were paroled into the
U.S. for at least one year
Cuban or Haitian entrant
Battered spouse (or child), whose spouse (or parent) has filed a visa petition for you, or you have filed a visa petition for yourself or an application for cancellation of removal under the Violence Against Women Act. There are special rules for domestic violence survivors.
But any requirement related to citizenship goes out the window when a child is born..
GAO noted that: in fiscal year (FY) 1995, about $1.1 billion in Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and Food Stamp benefits were provided to households with an illegal alien parent for the use of his or her citizen child.
So you come across 8 or 9 months pregnant have the baby and there ya go. FWIW my sisted was a labor nurse near el centro, deliverd more illegal babies than babies of citizens.
I had to Google “are resident aliens eligible for food stamps” yesterday since I had no idea what the eligibility requirement were.
This attached link was for Michigan – I do not know how much leeway states have in setting their own rules.
http://www.michiganlegalaid.org/library_...t_download
There are multiple exceptions for legal aliens, many of which you mentioned in the CA requirements.
The next link is regarding the expansion of food stamps to include resident aliens that was passed in 2002 by republicans (and democrats) and expanded by the democrats later. It is actually a blog post about broken government and why would food stamps are attached to the farm bill. It is also from Daly Kos which tends to lean left, but the history appears factual.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/11...Governance
If a child is born in the USA to parents who are not US citizens (or have been here legally for whatever years -with exceptions), the child is eligible for food stamps, but not the parents. Your post even says the food stamps are for the child.
Your sisters experience in El Centro (again had to look up – but assume you mean in CA) – makes sense to me. However I would counter that the drive is to make their children’s life better, which is no different from the mindset the past 400 years.
I have read that many Mexicans drive over the border to have their kid in the USA. I have also read that there are maternity trips from wealthy parents around the world that come to the USA to have their kid. In my opinion they are not doing this to get food stamps, but to give their kids opportunity. I see this as a positive reflection on America.
Long story short – I do not disagree that some people may take advantage of our programs, but in general my opinion Is that the driver for most immigrants are no different than what they have been over the centuries. However just because I have my opinion, it does not mean that I think you are wrong. You brought up multiple programs other than food stamps.
