America used to discourage dependency on public resources. We used to turn back would-be immigrants who were likely to become public charges. Now, the U.S. government is aggressively encouraging welfare dependency! And that includes immigrant welfare enrollment.
The Daily Caller has exposed the outrageous expansion of welfare costs through federal solicitation in an article titled "USDA/Mexican consulates to immigrants: Don't worry, food stamps won't affect citizenship chances".
That's right. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is a collaborator with the Mexican outposts throughout the United States. They advertise and promote food stamp usage. They actively seek to get as many immigrants on our food stamp program as they can. The Daily Caller title quotes the USDA-approved brochure, which is steadily consumed by foreign-born residents unable to pull their own weight in our country.
Mexican-born households are the most likely immigrant group to get food assistance, CIS has found — three times the usage rate of native-born Americans. Can anybody say "fiscal cliff"?
This surreal picture shows just how far we've fallen from demanding self-sufficiency from immigrants. Our long-standing public charge doctrine has become an empty shell.
The centuries-old public charge doctrine, which began in colonial times, is intended to exclude or remove beggars, the indigent, and the sickly and lame. Those immigrants who became dependent on public resources (even before the modern American welfare state came into its present leviathan shape) faced deportation.
Might this be the reason that, among immigration mythology, people think of immigrants of old as being hard workers? You bet they worked hard, because the United States would send them home if they didn't.
The imported-welfare-class pattern and practice of the handout administration comes through loud and clear in the USDA brochure inviting immigrants to get on the U.S. dole. From the Daily Caller:
In one portion of the brochure, USDA's text asks, "If I get on SNAP benefits, will I be a 'public charge?'" The brochure then answers: "No. You and your family can apply for and receive SNAP [food stamp] benefits without hurting your chance of becoming U.S. citizens."
The next time a politician or the White House decries the federal budget deficit or national debt, ask what role public charge doctrine should play in regaining fiscal sanity. The answer will tell you a lot.
