On Tuesday, the Center for Immigration Studies released an analysis of data compiled in the 2022 Survey of Income and Program Participation showing that immigrants make significantly higher use of welfare programs than the US-born. This should come as a surprise to no one.

Here are some highlights:

Among the findings:

• The 2022 SIPP indicates that 54 percent of households headed by immigrants — naturalized citizens, legal residents, and illegal immigrants — used one or more major welfare program. This compares to 39 percent for U.S.-born households.
• The rate is 59 percent for non-citizen households (e.g. green card holders and illegal immigrants).
• Compared to households headed by the U.S.-born, immigrant-headed households have especially high use of food programs (36 percent vs. 25 percent for the U.S.-born), Medicaid (37 percent vs. 25 percent for the U.S.-born), and the Earned Income Tax Credit (16 percent vs. 12 percent for the U.S.-born).
• Our best estimate is that 59 percent of households headed by illegal immigrants, also called the undocumented, use at least one major program. We have no evidence this is due to fraud. Among legal immigrants we estimate the rate is 52 percent.

Here's the really interesting tidbit:

• Most new legal immigrants are barred from most programs, as are illegal immigrants, but this has a modest impact primarily because: 1) Immigrants can receive benefits on behalf of U.S.-born children; 2) the bar does not apply to all programs, nor does it apply to non-citizen children in some cases; 3) most legal immigrants have lived here long enough to qualify for welfare; 4) some states provide welfare to otherwise ineligible immigrants on their own; 5) by naturalizing, immigrants gain full welfare eligibility.

What's missing from the story is what all this is costing the U.S. taxpayer, but we can assume the worst.

Immigration, illegal but also legal, is going to be one of the major deciding factors of the 2024 election cycle. Under the Biden Administration, our southern border has become a running sore; the Biden Administration seems to have very little idea what to do about it and is lost to the point of denying to the press that there is even a problem. Border-state governors are taking matters into their own hands. 

Assuming our political class really has America's best interests at heart (assumes facts not in evidence) then our immigration policy is long past due for an enormous overhaul. Immigration, yes, can bring value to the nation, but only if we admit people who bring something of value with them; a skill, knowledge, something that will add to our economy and our society. 

An immigration overhaul (reform just doesn't seem like a strong enough term anymore) should include these factors:

• End birthright citizenship
• No immigrant, legal or illegal, is eligible for any welfare program for a certain time (say, five years) after arrival in the U.S. regardless of the presence of dependents
• Immigrants must have employment arranged before arrival
• Borders closed. Completely. Walls, tech, patrols, whatever it takes. Yes, it won't be cheap, but it's got to be cheaper than what the Center for Immigration Studies has revealed.
• Anyone who is found to be in the country illegally, at any time, in any place, is immediately given a one-way plane ticket to their country of origin and is escorted to that flight.

Shouldn't our elected officials have America's best interests at heart? Shouldn't we place the best interests of American citizens ahead of the hordes that flow over our southern border, unchecked, unscreened, with no idea who they are, why they are here, or what they intend to do? The Federal government, remember, is flying these people to destinations like Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, where these people disappear into those cities, vanishing into communities of people who are often likewise here illegally.

Is it too much to expect our immigration policy to restrict entry to people who will go through the process to come here legally, and who have something to contribute to the country's economy and society? Is it too much to expect people who come here to become, you know, American?

We are under no obligation to accept unlimited, unchecked immigration. While people do have a right to travel and seek economic gain for themselves, in this case, property rights take precedence, and to the people of a nation, the nation is their property; a nation is a defined structure, an association of people (a voluntary association, I might add – if you don’t like it in the U.S., you are certainly free to leave) and not only do we have the right to protect our property, our nation, against invasion, we also have the right of disassociation – the right to choose who we allow to join our group. And that is how our immigration policy should be structured.

Because this can't continue.

NEW: Lukeville, AZ right now. Only 2 Border Patrol agents here to move this mass of hundreds of illegal immigrants from around the world to a processing area. We continue to see enormous numbers of men from Africa who tell us they are going to sanctuary cities around the US. pic.twitter.com/zTSVLJFTGp

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) December 22, 2023