Expert: Welfare Ban for Immigrants Would ‘Help Out the American Taxpayer’

Preventing welfare-dependent legal immigrants from permanently resettling in the United States and eventually becoming U.S. citizens would “help out the American taxpayer,” an expert tells SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily.

In an interview with Breitbart News Deputy Political Editor Amanda House, RJ Hauman with the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) said President Trump’s plan to keep foreign nationals who rely on welfare from permanently resettling in the U.S. would be one step in creating an immigration system that works in the national interest.

Hauman said:

Now when these legal immigrants come in [to the U.S.] and potentially get a green card or citizenship, the American taxpayer is expected to bear the brunt of allowing them to immigrate here. They’re allowed to use Medicaid, Obamacare subsidies, and a whole host of other programs that we foot the bill for. [Emphasis added]

The question is, why has the government — down the line — when did they get rid of this common sense approach… the administration is just trying to restore the integrity of our immigration system and help out the American taxpayer. [Emphasis added]

Hauman also slammed the establishment media’s coverage of the plan — which could be rolled out in the coming weeks — as out of touch and not based in history.

“This isn’t some radical new change,” Hauman said. “Public charge doctrine has existed in the country since 1882, the Immigration Act of 1882, which gave the government the ability to restrict entry of any person who is unable to take care of themselves without becoming a public charge.”

“But then, somewhere along the line, the likelihood of an individual becoming a public charge is hardly ever even considered anymore in the immigration process,” Hauman continued.

Listen to the full interview here:

Such a plan would be a boon for American taxpayers, who currently spend about $57.4 billion a year on paying for the welfare, crime, and schooling costs of the country’s mass importation of 1.5 million new, mostly low skilled legal immigrants every year.

A recent Breitbart News report also revealed that more than half of the foreign refugee households resettled permanently in the U.S. between 2011 and 2015 were on food stamps. The Trump administration has sought to reduce the burden of mass immigration to benefit the wages and quality of life of America’s working and middle class.

About 62 percent of American voters have said that they support a plan to prevent immigrants from receiving taxpayer-funded welfare.

Mass legal and illegal immigration to the U.S. continues to be the largest driver of population increases and demographic shifts in the country. Every year, more than 1.5 million immigrants are admitted to the country. The U.S. has imported more than ten million immigrants in the last decade.

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