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Why the Fairness for Legal Immigrants Act of 1999 is needed.
The
1996 welfare law barred many vulnerable families from needed
public resources. While 1997 and 1998 legislation has largely
restored eligibility to legal immigrants who were in the
U.S. before the welfare law was passed, restrictions still
remain in place for legal immigrants. Many lawfully present
immigrants remain ineligible for basic health care, nutrition,
and other important porgrams supprted by their own tax dollars.
Those most deeply affected affected include children and
their families, elderly, and people with disabilities. To
address this issue, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY),
Representative Sander Levin, and other members of Congress
have introduced the "Fairness for legal Immigrants
Act" of 1999 (H.R. 1399, S. 792).
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Fairness! Restoration of immigrant benefits is a matter
of basic fairness and decency. The National Academy of Sciences
concluded that the average immigrant contributes $1,800
more each year in taxes than the individual costs the federal,
state, and local governments. If immigrants' tax dollars
pay to support public resources for others, then immigrants
deserve the same equal access to available resources.
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Health care should not be based on a date of entry!
The goals of the Medicaid and CHIP programs are undermined
when states are not permitted to use federal funds to provide
preventative and other basic health services to lawfully
present immigrants. The nation saves $3 for each dollar
it spends on prenatal care. It makes no sense to deny prenatal
care under Medicaid to pregnant women simply because they
arrived after a specific date.
It is
shortsighted to deny states the ability to provide Medicaid
or CHIP to immigrant children because of their date of entry.
Such a policy will inevitably mean some children will develop
health complications that could have been prevented. In
addition, the long-term effeects of lack of basic health
care can prevent children from making a full economic contribution
as they grow into adulthood.
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Support working families and elderly immigrants! Among
those already in the U.S. in 1996 whose benefits would be
restored by the Fairness for Legal Immigrants Act are working
parents who currently have no access to food stamps, and
elderly individuals over 65 years old who now are ineligible
for food stamps because they were not over 65 on the day
welfare reform was enacted.
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Immigrant restrictions don't just hurt immigrants! Even
if it were desirable, it is impossible to restrict assistance
to immigrants without hurting other Americans. Immigrants
do not live alone, isolated from the rest of us. We work
together, shop together, and our children play together.
If basic health care is withheld from some children, as
under the current restrictions, all children are put at
risk.
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Restrictions on federal programs burden states and local
governments! There is a looming health care crisis in
immigtant communities, and under current law, state and
local governments will be forced to pay for it without federal
help. There are already cases of immigrants who have developed
critical medical conditions after arriving in the U.S. Since
their treatment is not covered under Medicaid, states, local
governments, and local hospitals are being forced to provide
care without federal reimbursement. It is unfair to state
and local governments because most taxes paid by immigrants
go to the federal government.
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A message of inclusion! We should not send America's
newcomers a message of antipathy and exclusion from the
American mainstream. After all, today's newcomers are tomorrow's
citizens and civic leaders. They will be our partners in
shaping America's future. We should not signal to immigrants
that their basic needs are less important than those of
others, or that we are unwilling to return to them the full
value of their tax dollars.
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