Speech #1040031982

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from California for calling this special order tonight on the subject of immigrants and welfare benelits. As we debate the complex and sometimes heated issues surrounding Immigration generally. I am hopeful that the tone of this discussion will be both reasonable and balanced. Furthermore. I hope that this special order. and others to follow. will deflate some of the politicallycharged myths surrounding the immigration debate. One of the myths often cited to support the contention that Immigrants cost more than they contribute is that they are heavy users of welfare. The facts. however. are very different. When refugees are excluded. statistics show that immigrants of working age are considerably less likely than nativeborn residents of working age to receive welfare. Only 3.9 percent of Immigrants. who come to the United States to join family members or to work. rely on public assistance. compared to 4.2 percent of nativeborn residents. The failure to differentiate between the legal status of refugeeswho are explicitly entitled to public benefits upon arrival--and other immigrants contributes greatly to continuing misperceptions and to proposals of potentially ineffective policies. It should also be noted that those legal immigrants who seek public assistance must meet much tougher standards for the major programs than nativeborn residents. while undocumented immigrants are ineligible for any public assistance except emergency medical care under Medicaid and some nutrition programs. Another one of the myths surrounding Immigrants and welfare benefits is that these benefits act as a magnet which attract immigrants to the United States. According to an INS report on the legalized alien population. this Is simply untrue. Fully 64 percent of legal immigrants come to the United States to join family members. 14 percent come because U.S. employers need their skills. and 16 percent are fleeing political persecution. Very few immigrants come to the United States seeking public assistance. Undocumented immigrants legalized under the amnesty program come to the United States for the same reasons: to join close family members62 percent. to work94 percent. and to flee repression28 percent. not to use public services like welfare. Mr. Speaker. most of the Republican welfare reform proposals would hurt U.S. citizens and their sponsored relatives. Some of these proposals involve outright bans on more than 60 Federal programs for legal immigrants who have not yet become citizens. One of these proposals would require Federal programs to report to the INS all legal immigrants who receive benefits for more than 1 year. These immigrants would be considered public charges by the INS and therefore subject to deportation. I urge my colleagues to examine the facts and not the myths surrounding the debate on immigrants and welfare benefits. The facts are these. Mr. Speaker. and they speak for themselves. Immigrants pay more in taxes than they receive in benefits. According to the Urban Institute. legal and undocumented Immigrants combined. pay approximately $70.3 billion per year In taxes and receive $42.9 billion In services such as education and public assistance. Legal immigrants Social Security deductions help keep the Social Security system solvent. Because immigrants tend to be young and have years of work ahead of them. they are significant contributors to the Social Security system. The combined total of all immigrants income came to $285 billion according to the 1990 census. This was 8 percent of all income earned in the United States. and equal to immigrants share of the populaton7.9 percent. Immigrants spend much of their income on U.S. goods and services. helping to spur the U.S. economy forward. Undocumented immigrant workers provide tax dollars to the United States because undocumented workers are subject to payroll deductions and Income taxes. they help to support programs like unemployment insurance and Social Security. even though they themsM 6447 selves are not eligible for benefits from these programs. In 1990. undocumented immigrants paid $2.7 billion in Social Security and $168 million in unemployment insurance. Once again. I thank Mr.