DiLorenzo: What's It Gonna Be...A Welfare State

DiLorenzo: What's It Gonna Be...A Welfare State or Open Borders?

By Ray DiLorenzo
May 18, 2019


You can have open borders or a welfare state, but not both!

Listening to political pundits as much as I do can be frustrating. They are employed, I assume, because of their intelligence and savvy presentation. Lately I have been less and less impressed. They strap on a position and won’t take it off, even if it displays no common sense.

Geraldo Rivera of Fox News, on Friday, was arguing with fervor for open borders like we had in the early history of our country. He would be correct insofar as we had relatively open immigration until the late 1800s. But, he smoothly never mentioned that our early immigration policy never included bed, bath, and beyond.

Let this sink in deep…You Can Have Open Borders or a Welfare State, but Not Both! Financial collapse will surely result. Even Cher tweeted this realization last month, witnessing all the homeless living on the streets in Los Angeles.


After the Civil War, several states passed their own immigration laws. In 1875 the Supreme Court stepped in declaring immigration to be a federal responsibility. As a result, as immigration rose in the 1880s, with economic conditions worsening in some areas, Congress began passing immigration legislation.

In this period, certain aliens were prohibited from entering the United States by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and by the Alien Contract Labor Laws of 1885 and 1887. The latter prohibited the importation and migration of foreigners and aliens under contract or agreement to perform labor in the United States.

The Immigration Act of 1882 levied a head tax of fifty cents on each immigrant and excluded (worded from the .gov website) idiots, lunatics, convicts, and persons likely to become a government charge (people that cannot take care of themselves). My grandmother arrived in that relative time period and it is good to know she was admitted without difficulty. She arrived by herself at 14 years old, working age in those days, leaving her parents and two sisters in Italy, to live with her aunt and uncle in New York. Her sisters arrived later, one per year. Such was typical in those days.

Today, we have thousands upon thousands, maybe even millions of illegal immigrants arriving without a penny, with no skills, no means of support, no extended family in the country, and many with disease. No wonder we are seeing the rise of diseases that were eradicated decades ago.

Some pundits will say that illegal aliens are not supposed to receive federal benefits, but that is largely untrue. Many are receiving housing subsidies, free education, urgent medical care, free school breakfast and lunch, prenatal and postpartum care, and infant delivery benefits paid by Medicaid. As many as 50% of these immigrants are receiving food stamps or at least one other welfare benefit.

A study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) released a study in 2017. They found that illegal immigrants are a net consumer of benefits to the tune of $100 billion per year, not including the cost of patrolling the border. Please, don’t give me the “they contribute taxes” argument. Their contribution amounts to between $12 - 18 billion in taxes, an obvious net loss. A $25 billion wall would be a bargain.

Many states have their own benefit packages as well. Eleven states offer free or subsidized medical care. New York state gives up to $300 per month in cash assistance. California offers food stamps, and legal services. The California governor has recently asked for $50 million from taxpayers to serve the illegal population.

Migrants know what benefits are available. They see it reported on TV and in the press and they know what political party is selling it. They form caravans to get the spoils they know are waiting.

What we are up against is a welfare-loving political party that is determined to use it to expand their power. They know these aliens will either eventually vote or fraudulently vote and they will vote for more of everything. What it will cost is of no concern. The Left is probably hoping for an economic collapse so as to commence the total socialist system that they have been working towards for decades.

So, what is it going to be, a welfare state or open borders? Choose one. You can’t have both unless you’re a socialist or globalist or both and want an end to these United States.

https://canadafreepress.com/article/whats-it-...en-borders