Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) took to the floor of the U.S. Senate to decry the fact that recent immigrants can often get more in federal payouts than Social Security recipients who worked their whole lives to qualify for their meager payouts.
Rubio focused his comments on Cuban refugees who came to America up to forty years ago, became contributing members of American society, and earned a Social Security benefit. He noted that many of these people who have been useful members of American society for decades are getting less in Social Security benefits than illegals and other immigrants are getting today and for far less effort, at that.
“One of the things I see a lot in South Florida are people that have been in this country — they may have came from Cuba 45 years ago. They’ve worked here their entire lives. They retire. They get $800, $900, $1,000 a month from Social Security,” Rubio said. “And they run into somebody who just got here from Cuba three months ago, 29 years old, doesn’t work, and he’s given $1,500 a month in benefits by our government ’cause they’re ‘refugees.'”
“That ‘refugee,’ a year later, is traveling back to Cuba 15 times,” Rubio continued. “So, you’re a refugee fleeing oppression from a place that you now go back and visit 15 times the following year.”
“And in the meantime,” Rubio added, “We’re giving you Medicaid, food stamps, health care for your children, cash payments from the refugee fund.”
“So, imagine if you’ve been working here for 40 years and your Social Security check is smaller than the benefits going to a 28-year-old, able-bodied person who just got here,” Rubio exclaimed.
“That’s real. That happens. That’s happening every day. That makes no sense,” he concluded.
Indeed, it is not just a problem for Cuban migrants from one decade or another. It is occurring across the board. Recent migrants are far more likely to be on welfare than even U.S. citizens.
A study from 2022, for instance, found that 54 percent of households headed by a migrant used one or more major welfare program. That compared to only 39 percent for natural-born citizens.
The same study also found that illegals use welfare at an even higher rate than legal migrants; 59 percent of households headed by illegals are on welfare compared to 52 percent of legal migrants.
Also, compared to U.S.-born households, immigrant-led households make far more use of food-related welfare, Medicaid, and the Earned Income Tax Credit.
It also appears that even immigrant-led homes that have better than average education and a little higher income still use welfare more than similar American-led homes.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, or Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston
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