8 U.S.Code Sec. 1182(a)(4)(A) states:
Any alien who, in the opinion of the consular officer at the time of application for a visa, or in the opinion of the Attorney General at the time of application for admission or adjustment of status, is likely at any time to become a public charge is inadmissible.
There was a time when that provision was enforced. If you showed up at Ellis Island and couldn’t demonstrate that you could support yourself or there were others to support you, you didn’t get in. Now the “public charge” requirement is, like other aspects of our immigration laws, a dead letter.
The rationale for the clause is obvious. It was never intended that citizens of other countries should come to the United States in order to sign up for welfare. But that is exactly what is now happening. In fact, when immigrants (legal or otherwise) show up in a community, it seems that the first thing local authorities do is guide them to the welfare office.
Thus, via InstaPundit:
Half the world wants to move here, going by Puerto Rico. 4 billion people.
Meaning we could cherry-pick the top 0.1%.
Instead, we take the dregs so Democrats can flip states blue. https://t.co/Mv8Xj3qgrd
— Peter St Onge, Ph.D. (@profstonge) June 26, 2026
We constantly are told that illegals only come here because they want to work, but 59% of them are on welfare. So they may or may not be working, but not enough to support themselves. Rather, a majority of both legal and illegal immigrants are public charges–the exact opposite of what our immigration laws require. And the people most likely to be drawing down taxpayer money are those who are here illegally.
Is there any other country on Earth this stupid?
