According to the Center for Immigration Studies, which sponsored Thursday's event, 500,000 out of the 1.3 million immigrants a year come from south of the border, where the economy is stagnant and unemployment is high.
Some experts say that to reduce the number of immigrants on welfare, the government must cut off entry to uneducated, non-skilled workers.
[b]"Are we inviting groups that have a high propensity to become a public burden on society? Yes,"[/b] charged Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation, who spoke among a panel of experts in Washington, D.C., Thursday.
Rector said the real issue is the U.S. immigration policy, which lets in hundreds of thousands of Mexicans and other poor peoples who cannot survive without public assistance once they get here. He said the U.S. spent $430 billion last year on total welfare assistance — $5,300 per taxpayer.
Borjas suggested a "point" system for qualifying prospective immigrants, based on eligibility for family re-unification as well as education and work skills.
"It is not a welfare problem, it is an immigration problem," he said. "Clearly, welfare reform did not fix our immigration problems."
Passel agreed that the greatest number of immigrants — legal and otherwise — come from Mexico, and are for the most part poor and in needing of assistance, but warned against throwing out the proverbial baby with the bathwater.
"The immigrants are using more welfare because they are poorer, not because they have more of a propensity to use welfare," Passel said. [b]"As welfare is increasingly seen as a way for immigrants to work towards upward mobility, it doesn't make sense to restrict their access to it."[/b]
See article at:[url]http://foxnews.com/story/0,2933,49045,00.html[/url]
Any you thought this problem had been fixed![:D]
Eric The(VisasShouldBeSoldToHighestBidders!)Hun[>]:)]