Blogger Candidate Forum: Standing On Your Own Two Feet

Hello Everyone:

It is a warm and lovely Wednesday and time for Blogger Candidate Forum.  First an update on a post about flipping the United States Senates.  Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper is in talks to end his presidential campaign and refocus his efforts on a Senate campaign.  Good move on his part, he has a better chance of winning that race.  Last Saturday, the Houston Chronicle (houstonchronicle.com; Aug. 10, 2019; date accessed Aug. 14, 2019) published an editorial urging Beto O'Rourke to drop out of the presidential race and run for Republican Senator John Cronyn's seats.  Based on the comments in the social media, a lot of people--including Yours Truly--think it is a good idea.  Stayed tuned.  Onward.

Acting USCIS Director Ken Cuccinelli
nypost.com

   Blogger managed to stop gagging over the latest proposed immigration regulation long enough to write down a few thoughts.  The latest proposal is intended to encourage non-citizens living the U.S. to become more self-sufficient.  A White House fact sheet issued on Monday outlines three main points to ensure that non-citizens do not abuse the social welfare system.

Under the heading of Protecting Public Resources, the White House wrote,

...An alien who received public benefits above a certain threshold is known as a "public charge."

• Aliens will be barred from entering the United States if they are found likely to become public charges
• Aliens in the United States who are found to become public charges will also be barred from adjusting their immigration status (whitehouse.gov; Aug. 12, 2019; date accessed Aug. 14, 2019)

Alien is the legal definition for any person who is not a naturalized or born-citizen of the United States.  There are different categories of alien: resident and non-resident, immigrant and non-immigrant, asylee and refugee, document and undocumented (i.e. illegal; law.cornell.edu; date accessed Aug. 14, 2019).  The term "Public Charge" is used by U.S. immigration to defined someone who is "considered primarily dependent on the government for subsistence, as demonstrated by either receipt of public cash assistance for income-maintenance or institutionalized for long-term care at government expense" (nilc.org; date accessed Aug. 12, 2019).  Given the definition of "public charge," what criteria will the USCIS use to determine who is a public and who is not.

U.S. Customs point
marketwatch.com

The Trump administration's point, or so they say, is to encourage self-sufficiency.  A sense of self-sufficiency has been embedded in the U.S.'s DNA since pre-colonial times.  The White House fact sheet cites,

• Public charge has been a part United States immigration law for more than 100 years as a grounds for inadmissiability.
• Congress and President Bill Clinton signed two bipartisan bill in 1996 to help stop aliens from exploiting public benefits
• This included the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act....
• Americans widely agree that individuals coming to our country should be self-sufficient, with 73 percent in favor of requiring immigrants to be able to support themselves financially (whitehouse.gov; Aug. 12, 2019)

Fair point but it ignores the fact that lawful immigrants--i.e. those that arrive with passports, letters of sponsorship, and visas--do work and strive to become self-sufficient.  Most are unskilled, non-English immigrant who find work in, for example, restaurants busing tables or cleaning offices.  These jobs and others like it are not always full-time employment and lawful immigrants must work two jobs just to help make ends meet.  Even then there can be a short fall that needs to be made up with social welfare benefits like cash assistance for groceries and Medicaid.

blogs.voanews.com

Understandably the White House is concerned about preserving the social safety but it assumes that immigrants, regardless of legal status, freely abuse the social welfare system.  This assumption is borne out with this point,

Large numbers of non-citizens and their families have taken advantage of our generous public health benefits, limited resources that could otherwise go to vulnerable Americans... (whitehouse.gov; Aug. 12, 2019)

The National Immigration Forum found this statement to be generally false.  An NIF Fact Sheet on Immigration and Public Benefits states, 

...Undocumented immigrants, including DACA holders are ineligible to receive most  federal public benefits.... Undocumented immigrants may be eligible for a handful of benefits that are deemed necessary to protect life or guarantee safety in dire situations....(immigrationforum.org; Aug. 21, 2018; date accessed Aug. 14, 2019)

According to the NIF legal residents do have some access to public benefits,

Only those with lawful permanent resident (LPR) status, but not until they have resided as a legal resident for five years.... and are subject to limitations before being eligible for federal means-tested benefits, including Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program, TANF, SNAP, and SSI....(Ibid)

thebalance.com

According to the new regulation (s3amazonaws.com; date accessed Aug. 14, 2019), poised to go into effect on or after October 15, refugees and asylum seekers would be exempt.  However, legal immigrants who use for social welfare benefits for 12 months in any 36 month cycle could find any changes in their immigration status delayed--it would be more difficult to stay in the country or be naturalized (cnbc,com; Aug. 12, 2019; date accessed Aug. 14, 2019).  Further, legal residents with sufficient household income, assets, and resources have a better chance of obtaining LPR status or citizenship than those who cannot demonstrate any employment prospects (Ibid).

As expected, the backlash to the new regulation has been swift.  Marielena Hincapie, the executive director of the National Immigration Law Center told CNBC,

This news is a cruel step toward weaponizing programs that are intended to help people by making them, instead, a means of separating families and sending immigrants and communities of color one message: you are not welcome here,... (Ibid)

New York State Attorney General Letitia James plans to sue the Trump administration.

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Kamala Harris (CA) said Sunday on Meet the Press that the administration is directing the Department of Homeland Security to conduct a campaign of terror (Ibid).

The Trump administration believes that it is promoting self-sufficiency by threatening to withhold changes in immigration status.  The idea is to make it as painful as possible for someone to come to the United States without job and English language skills.  However, this is denying the reality of the American economy.  For example, the agriculture industry has long depended on unskilled workers to work in the fields and processing plants.  The construction industry needs people to work the job sites.  These industries, and similar ones, are cyclical and can mean that an immigrant employee can go for months without work.  Driving an Uber only goes so far and the rest has to be made up somewhere.  Understandably the goal is self-sufficiency but without some sort of social welfare safety, being able to stand one's own two feet and not be a public is harder, especially if your immigration status is jeopardized.