Thread: California overpays for immigrant welfare

California overpays for immigrant welfare


Ivan Light

San Francisco Chronicle January 11, 2011 04:00 AM

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California carries more than twice its share of the nation's burden for the support of needy immigrants. This is a problem of American federalism, not a problem of tax evasion by immigrants.

If immigrants were evenly distributed among the 50 states, California's share of the national immigrant welfare bill would be 6 percent. Instead, it pays 13 percent, according researchers.

In the United States, welfare is a shared federal and state responsibility. Fifty states share financial responsibility for Temporary Aid to Needy Families and Medicaid with the federal government, which contributes half of each state's cost of these programs. It is unfair to share welfare responsibility with states when 45 states have few immigrants, and only five have large populations of immigrants.

Five states, of which California is the largest, have borne two-thirds of the nation's immigration-related welfare burden. The other states are New York, Texas, Florida and Illinois. This imbalance stems from the heavy clustering of immigrants in just those states, especially in California. If California had no immigrants, its share of the costs would be zero.

Other reasons California overpays for aid to immigrants arise from the mismatch between the taxes immigrants pay and the benefits immigrants receive. Two-thirds to three-quarters of immigrants' taxes go to the federal government. One-third to one-quarter go to states. However, state and local governments pay at least half the cost of immigrants' education and health care.

The free public education that immigrants' children receive comes from state governments, on which immigrants impose heavier-than-average costs while paying lower-than-average taxes. Similarly, a third of immigrants receive no employer-paid health care. When injured or ill, uninsured immigrants use public emergency rooms at the expense of state taxpayers. If a state has no immigrants, it pays nothing for the education of immigrant children or for immigrants' emergency health care.

The costs of immigration rightly belong to the federal government, which has the exclusive authority to legislate immigration quotas and immigration controls.

States should share these costs equally, but high immigration states, especially California, are picking up the federal government's bill, while low immigration states pay nothing. Billions are at stake every year.

This is a California issue, not a Republican or Democratic issue. California's congressional delegation should press the federal government for relief from this inequity.

Ivan Light is professor emeritus of sociology at UCLA.


www.sfgate.com

...California overpays for immigrant welfare....

Not to sound too sarcastic but..."duh huh"

Don't you just get irritated when a sphincter like this doesn't differentiate between immigrants and illegal aliens?

DefinitionSphincter) Other end of face!

Thank you everyone of my fellow friends here on ALIPAC. This is the first time this kind of article has been posted that I haven't had to come out fighting in defense of California. This shows the understanding we have developed of the bigger picture. The common knowledge that what has happened in California if not stopped is going to keep spreading and devouring the whole of the United States.

Many of us here in California have come to the realization after the elctions in 2010 that our only hope lies with the rest of our nation. We are a perfect example of what happens if the progressives and their future Latino Anchor Baby Political Pool Agenda is allowed to grow. As their numbers grow in elligible voters our voice is being squashed. We have watched as our economy is being destroyed by all the freebies demanded by this new society.

One has to wonder as one becomes the minority in their own state why the new majority is still reaping the benefits of being the minority in the country. Why the state continues to dig even further into my pockets for the advancement of the Latino Youth and Community.

Why are ethnic groups allowed to have pride in their origins and I am not? Why they are allowed to have activist groups and their civil rights protected, but my children are not allowed this same right?

Since when did being white become equated with being racists, a nazi, white supreamist or anti semetic?

Sorry for my rant, but I don't like what I have seen happen to California and what I see happening to my country.

Originally Posted by MontereySherry

One has to wonder as one becomes the minority in their own state why the new majority is still reaping the benefits of being the minority in the country. Why the state continues to dig even further into my pockets for the advancement of the Latino Youth and Community.

Why are ethnic groups allowed to have pride in their origins and I am not? Why they are allowed to have activist groups and their civil rights protected, but my children are not allowed this same right?

Since when did being white become equated with being racists, a nazi, white supreamist or anti semetic?

Sorry for my rant, but I don't like what I have seen happen to California and what I see happening to my country.

I think we all feel this way....

This is a California issue, not a Republican or Democratic issue. California's congressional delegation should press the federal government for relief from this inequity.

Yeah it's called "enforcing the law"!!!!

I thought the left insisted that aliens don't get welfare? About time someone admitted it.

Maybe if CA got rid of it's "sanctuary" policies, it would help?

Ok , then lets take them at their word , If "immigrants" are costing them to much money

Then its time to start cutting off the "immigrants" and start to weed out the ones that are not "immigrants" but illegal foreign nationals

"Like I said before if we let Cali. fall, we're all going down!"
Just like Domino's, and I don't mean pizza!

Steve last year I might have agreed with you. But not now, let us fail.