Trump Overstates Impact of Immigration Bill
President Donald Trump is wrong on two fronts when he claims that the RAISE Act “prevents … new immigrants from collecting welfare.”
“They’re not going to come in and just immediately go and collect welfare. That doesn’t happen under the RAISE Act,” Trump said of the immigration bill he recently endorsed.
First, current federal law already bars most new immigrants from most federal public assistance programs for five years, so it’s misleading to suggest all immigrants can now “immediately go and collect welfare.”
Secondly, there are exceptions to the current law, such as for children and pregnant women. The legislation would tighten the eligibility requirements for some new immigrants, but many would remain eligible for public assistance under the proposed bill. So
