The pro-mass immigration Koch brothers say ending welfare-dependent immigration to the United States would do “serious harm” to the nation and be a “serious mistake.”
President Trump’s administration is looking to implement a policy that protects American taxpayers’ dollars from funding the mass importation of welfare-dependent foreign nationals by enforcing a “public charge” rule whereby legal immigrants would be less likely to secure a permanent residency in the U.S. if they have used any forms of welfare in the past, including using Obamacare, food stamps, and public housing.
The immigration controls would be a boon for American taxpayers in the form of an annual $57.4 billion tax cut — the amount taxpayers spend every 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.
The billionaire Kochs — avid defenders of mass immigration and free trade — are decrying the welfare-dependent immigration ban through their network of organizations.
The Libre Initiative, just one of many Koch-funded groups, wrote a letter to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), claiming that such a policy would harm the nation’s economy and cripple businesses that rely on cheap, foreign labor:
Under current law and longstanding practice, immigrants to the United States should be able to provide for themselves, or—in times of need—rely on the legal sponsors who have committed to support them. We welcome the opportunity to work with anyone to improve how these policies are administered. It would be a serious mistake however, to revise the public charge rule in such a way that its effect is to deprive our nation of the very talented and hard-working people we seek to welcome and who history shows contribute so much to our success. [Emphasis added]
Today, thanks, in part, to policies enacted under this administration, unemployment has reached historic lows. Immigrants are filling important jobs at a time when employers report being unable to find employees to fill millions of open positions. At the same time, businesses founded by immigrants and their children employ millions of Americans and their innovations continue to improve our lives. Their contributions on countless fronts, including culturally and economically, add much to our country. [Emphasis added]
While we should embrace proposals to improve our immigration system, it would do serious harm to our country and economy to block the entry of people whom we rely on today, as well as people who will create so much growth and rich opportunity in the future. [Emphasis added]
The full letter can be read here:
Public Charge Comment – Dan… by on Scribd
Months ago, the executive director of the Koch-funded Freedom Partners organization said in a statement that allowing mass migration of welfare-dependent foreign nationals into the U.S. is “morally right,” calling Trump’s proposed reform “the wrong approach.”
“We should always welcome people who desire to come here and contribute because is it both morally right and their efforts benefit our nation, economy, and taxpayers,” the Freedom Partners official said.
The billionaire Kochs had continuously opposed any and all reductions to legal immigration levels, opposing Trump’s plan to end the country’s birthright citizenship policy, which has rewarded American citizenship to the more than 4.5 million U.S.-born children of illegal aliens who are in the country and the 300,000 who are born every year.
Like the popular welfare-dependent immigration ban, the Koch’s Libre Initiative say ending birthright citizenship for the children of illegal aliens is “against our principles.”
As Breitbart News reported, the majority of the more than 1.5 million foreign nationals entering the country every year use about 57 percent more food stamps than the average native-born American household. Overall, immigrant households consume 33 percent more cash welfare than American citizen households and 44 percent more in Medicaid dollars. This straining of public services by a booming 44.5 million foreign-born population translates to the average immigrant household costing American taxpayers $6,234 in federal welfare.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.