Xavier Becerra: “Legal immigrants are not over utilizing welfare, AFDC, for example. In fact, they use it as a lower rate than does the…”

“Legal immigrants are not over utilizing welfare, AFDC, for example. In fact, they use it as a lower rate than does the citizen population. What we find is a skew in the numbers because of the refugee population, which by definition comes without anything because they are escaping persecution. We have in the law a requirement that we try to aid them as they try to transition from a place they had to escape without bringing anything with them. We hear people say that we have to deny immigrants, legal immigrants, not undocumented, access to services for which they pay with their taxes, because in every respect they do what a citizen does. They must contribute in their taxes. We are saying here in this bill, 'Let's deny them services because they are coming in this country to get welfare.' Absolutely not true. A respected, well-known research center, conservative research center which the Republican majority often uses, the Cato Institute, told us immigrants contribute about $285 billion to the economy, pay $70 billion in taxes, and net, in other words, in excess, they contribute $25 billion more than they use in services from the government.”