People talk like that line is part of the Constitution. Yes, we are -- and have long been -- the most welcoming of all nations, but not in the sense of open borders with a dozen free services following, all courtesy of the government. Anyone who has a relative who came through Ellis Island should know all that that entailed.
Hi albion,
It is, however, a point of law that 'illegal' immigrants cannot use most of our government's 'free' services. Even though, if they have a job, they do pay into SS just like everyone else, they cannot, unless at some time become U.S. citizens or legal immigrants receive SS retirement benefits. Illegal immigrants can also not apply for food stamps or most forms of social welfare. They are not eligible for SSI either. There are a very, very few government run social programs that 'illegal' immigrants can participate in. They can get 'emergency' health care under a part of the medicaid program, but it has to be an emergency type of service. Broken bones, heart attack and so forth.
Do you have relatives that came through Ellis Island? It's my understanding that the staff there just pretty much created a list of names of those coming in. I'm not sure that there was any 'checking' of a person's background or past criminal behavior. After all, we didn't have the kind of computer equipment that we have today to make such checks, on an international basis, even possible. Most of today's mafia, Italian and Irish and Russian, came through Ellis Island than our southern border.
So, while I have read and understood your complaint, I'm not necessarily in agreement that 'illegal' immigrants are bankrupting our nation by taking all of our 'free' stuff. Yes, I do absolutely think that we should take advantage of all computer programs that allow us to check an arriving immigrant's criminal history and certainly should not allow those with any serious crimes in. But that's not what's being done these days at the border.
I just wanted to offer a balanced view of the actual problem. Taking all of our 'free' stuff isn't a particularly valid complaint in my understanding.
Finally, ok, so we have a couple of million people that may or may not be taking advantage of our largess. We are, after all, the nation with the greatest wealth. Are we so greedy that we refuse to use that great wealth to help people, but have no problem using that great wealth to build bombs and make wars to kill people? Just asking. As a born again believer, my priorities concerning what we should be doing with the great wealth that God has blessed us with, are likely different than others. I don't bemoan that a few million poor and disenfranchised who would like to live in this great land that we promote as the home of the free and the brave with the richest capitalistic economy that the world has ever seen, a few million or billion dollars of the several trillion dollars that our government takes in, in tax revenues and other forms of collection, to give them a hand up. It is my understanding that most immigrants don't want to be on our 'free' stuff collection list. They want to work. They want to enjoy the same pride that I do in taking care of and providing for their families.
We actually, as someone pointed out, have much lazier born and raised Americans that take advantage of our 'free' stuff than any group of immigrants.
God bless,
In Christ, ted
