Nobel prize-winning economist Milton Friedman famously assailed open-border immigration policies, declaring, “It’s just obvious you can’t have free immigration and a welfare state.”
Two decades later, the Congressional Budget Office confirmed Friedman’s admonition by putting a multibillion-dollar price tag on the latest amnesty legislation, the so-called DREAM Act.
S. 1615 would expand America’s welfare state by making up to 2 million deportable aliens eligible for a host of federal benefits — health insurance subsidies, child tax credits, Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (a.k.a. food stamps) and higher education assistance, among others.
CBO estimates the bill, introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., would increase the federal budget deficit by $26 billion over the next decade.
The DREAM Act doubles down on a U.S. immigration system that’s out of control, literally. President Donald Trump summed up the problem over the weekend.
“Our current immigration system helps special interests, but hurts American workers, taxpayers and national security,” Trump said in his weekly radio address.
FAIR calls the DREAM Act a prime example of dysfunction on Capitol Hill.
“The CBO report should provide the death knell to efforts to hold up passage of the upcoming spending bill over a DREAM Act amnesty. It should also remind Congress that, in 2018, it should focus on securing our borders, eliminating incentives for illegal aliens presently in the country, and establishing a modern, merit-based legal immigration system.”
D.C. policymakers didn’t heed Friedman’s warning 20 years ago. It’s long past time they did. To taxpaying citizens, the DREAM Act looks like another national nightmare.