Sen. Marco Rubio: Government provides more welfare to new migrants than to Social Security recipients

07/12/2024 / By Laura Harris

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has denounced the fact that recent immigrants often receive more federal payouts than Social Security recipients.

In an address on the floor of the United States Senate, Rubio pointed out the stark differences in benefits received by Cuban refugees who arrived in the U.S. decades ago and have since earned Social Security benefits through years of labor and the financial support provided to recent immigrants, including those classified as refugees.

Rubio expressed his frustration over the situation where recent immigrants, who have not contributed to the Social Security system, receive more substantial benefits than Cuban refugees who have been contributing members of American society for decades. (Related: Sector of northern border sees record-breaking wave of illegal immigrants apprehended.)

“One of the things I see a lot in South Florida are people that have been in this country – they may have come from Cuba 45 years ago. They’ve worked here their entire lives. They retire. They get $800, $900, $1,000 a month from Social Security,” Rubio said. “And they run into somebody who just got here from Cuba three months ago, 29 years old, doesn’t work, and he’s given $1,500 a month in benefits by our government ’cause they’re ‘refugees.'”

Rubio even recounted instances of new arrivals receiving generous benefits, only to frequently return to their home countries.

“That ‘refugee,’ a year later, is traveling back to Cuba 15 times. So, you’re a refugee fleeing oppression from a place that you now go back and visit 15 times the following year,” Rubio continued.

“And in the meantime, we’re giving you Medicaid, food stamps, health care for your children, cash payments from the refugee fund. So, imagine if you’ve been working here for 40 years and your Social Security check is smaller than the benefits going to a 28-year-old, able-bodied person who just got here. That’s real. That happens. That’s happening every day. That makes no sense.”

Data proves illegal immigrant households receive higher benefits than others

A newly released analysis of data from the 2020 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) supports the claims of Rubio.

According to the SIPP data, immigrant households are more likely to receive benefits from means-tested anti-poverty government programs than U.S.-born residents. The SIPP data reveals that 54 percent of households headed by immigrants – including naturalized citizens, legal residents and illegal immigrants – used one or more major welfare programs in 2022 compared to only 39 percent for U.S.-born households.

The study also reveals that the welfare usage rate rises to 59 percent for non-citizen households, compared to 52 percent of households led by legal migrants.

Immigrant-headed households show especially high usage of food programs (36 percent vs. 25 percent for U.S.-born households), Medicaid (37 percent vs. 25 percent) and the Earned Income Tax Credit (16 percent vs. 12 percent). An estimated 59 percent of households headed by illegal immigrants use at least one major welfare program. This high usage rate is not attributed to fraud but to their ability to receive benefits on behalf of U.S.-born children and, in some states, access to programs like Medicaid and SNAP.

The analysis further details that no single program accounts for the higher overall welfare use among immigrants. Even when excluding programs like school lunch and breakfast and the WIC nutrition program, 46 percent of all immigrant households and 33 percent of U.S.-born households still utilize at least one major welfare program.

This data dispels the notion that the presence of extended family or unrelated individuals contributes to higher welfare use among immigrants. The majority of immigrant households are nuclear families, with 49 percent of these nuclear family households using welfare compared to 35 percent of similar U.S.-born households.

Visit OpenBorders.news for more stories about the border crisis.

Illegal migrants get anything free while Americans get hell. Watch this video.

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