July 19, 2008

Telemundo: "Illegal immigrants spurn needed benefits" (welfare)

Alex Johnson of MSNBC and Marian Albornoz of Telemundo team up to offer "Illegal immigrants spurn needed benefits/Fear of immigration agents means available resources go unclaimed", a slap in the face to those illegal alien advocates who frequently claim that illegal aliens aren't eligible for welfare. The article lists some of those welfare benefits and quotes at least one advocates who no doubt promotes them to their clients. The article goes further and features quotes regarding sanctuary cities and one quote supporting giving illegal aliens even more benefits than they currently receive. A section is headlined "Anti-immigrant pressure builds". A few quotes are provided from those who support our laws, but the overall theme is support for illegal immigration.

if you are an illegal immigrant, there is a third, crippling barrier — fear of arrest and deportation, especially in an anti-immigrant political climate that has fueled record numbers of arrests and deportations.

Most illegal immigrants have no idea that a limited number of benefit programs don’t exclude them, said Betsabe Pabon, director of the Food Stamps Program at the nonprofit Sunnyside Community Services in the New York borough of Queens.

By law, illegal immigrants are ineligible for food stamps — unless there is at least one U.S. citizen in their household, which describes all U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants.

In many cases, illegal immigrants can also receive emergency medical treatment, short-term government disaster relief and immunization against communicable diseases. Their children can attend public schools.

States may provide other benefits, such as driver's licenses and worker's compensation, In Kansas, for example, illegal immigrants can get tuition breaks at state universities and colleges.

Other advocates quoted are: Ernesto Campos, "who works with the Latino community for the Arlington County, Va., public schools"; Eduardo Crespi, "director of Centro Latino de Salud, a Hispanic outreach group in Columbia [Missouri]"; Robert Smith, "superintendent of the Arlington County schools"; Caroline Keating-Guerra, an organizer for the Austin, Texas, Immigrant Rights Coalition; and Carol McDowell, "president of McDowell Enterprises, a metal plating company in Elkhart, [Indiana].

Posted to at July 19, 2008 11:01 AM