NYT Trump Immigration Plan Offers a Ticket to the American Dream. The Poor Need Not Apply.
This is an interesting and disturbing piece. It makes perfect sense that we do not want to bring a bunch of welfare recipients into the country. I mean we have enough of them without importing more. :-)
And yet it does seem Un-American to not welcome some of the world's struggling masses.
I assume most of us would not be here if these standards were in place when our family members came here with nothing. On the other hand there was no Medicaid, food stamps, social security, Medicare, education grants, etc for them to receive. Just some land out in the middle of no where...
Thoughts?
This is an interesting and disturbing piece. It makes perfect sense that we do not want to bring a bunch of welfare recipients into the country. I mean we have enough of them without importing more. :-)
And yet it does seem Un-American to not welcome some of the world's struggling masses.
I assume most of us would not be here if these standards were in place when our family members came here with nothing. On the other hand there was no Medicaid, food stamps, social security, Medicare, education grants, etc for them to receive. Just some land out in the middle of no where...
Thoughts?
8 comments:
Well, there was a time when the law requiring immigrants to "not be a public charge" was enforced, and the only way around it was to have a "sponsor" who would guarantee your welfare. Apparently, we are now getting around those historical legal and moral requirements by simply not crossing the border legally, subject to those rules. Seems backwards to me.
Jerry,
Why do you think the standards should be different now from when our ancestors showed up without an invitation?
Were they a bunch of free loading public charges?
They're not. The standards gradually evolved through the 1800s and 1900s. Trump is simply enforcing the law as written, or trying to.
You did not answer my question.
Here is some interesting history of Public Charge
And more history
VOX Reporting
Politifact Ruling
FOX Coverage
Here's an answer for you: My forebears arrived here roughly 1735. They didn't face any immigration standards.
But the history of immigration law points clearly to how the "public charge" has been around a LONG time. What has changed is the massive welfare state and how easily and completely people can live as a public charge. That's not the fault of immigration law, and looked at in that light the welfare state makes even less sense than it already does.
Personally I do not think my ancestors came here with much more than a willingness to work... Maybe your ancestors were wealthier. :-)
The sources I provided indicate that welfare is part of the issue, but there is more to it than that.
Post a Comment