[fabsroman]

Yep, it is easy to get Medicaid to cover the costs of having a child. That much I do know.

As far as the immigrants getting additional services above and beyond what we get, I do not think that is true. They probably get services that any normal poor person would get. Trust me, I had a client that was born in America and not of hispanic decent, she had three kids from three different fathers, she didn't know where a single father was, she didn't receive child support from any of the fathers, but she received section 8 housing, she received food stamps, she was on Medicaid along with her 3 kids, etc. She made $22,000 that year, paid very little in withholding, yet I got her $8,000+ back on her tax return by taking advantage of the child tax credits and earned income tax credits. That meeting was another fun one that I don't think I will forget anytime soon. The tax returns I am speaking about were her 2004 returns. When I met with her to explain the returns and have her sign them, I asked her what she was going to do with all the money. Her response was that it was already spent via her credit cards and that she was going to use the money to pay her credit cards. However, if she ever did get any money she was going to buy a big screen TV. She then proceeded to complain about the state of Maryland because its benefits were a lot less than New York's. My mouth almost fell to the floor because Maryland is a pretty liberal state. She then proceeded to tell me that she quit her job because she and her boss did not get along very well, and she was wondering if I needed a secretary. She finished with, "Can I mail you a check becuase for the returns because I forgot my checkbook." Man was I pissed and I was already handling a case for her on a pro bono basis related to some shop lifting that her son got caught doing. I had to tell her that my policy on tax returns was cash or check on delivery and if she didn't have her checkbook I would be more than willing to drive her to her bank so she could make the withdrawal. I ended up having to drive her to the bank. I felt like crap doing it, but I think I would have felt a lot worse later on if she had made a fool out of me.

At the end of the day, I do not blame the immigrants or the poor for taking advantage of what is offered to them if they do it legally, because we all take advantage of whatever we can get legally. Take me for instance. My wife works at Target and gets a 10% discount. On top of that, we use the Target Visa and every time we spend $1,000 on it, we get a 10% off coupon to shop at Target. Well, we wait for that 10% coupon to do all our household shopping, which we ended up doing today and saving $60.

Me, I blame the system for catering to the poor way too much. Welfare, food stamps, Medicare, SSI, and Social Security all need to be modified. These things cannot be life long entitlements. They should be used to help those that are truly disabled and to provide the others with a little help for a limited time period until they can find a job and get back on their feet. However, most politicians do not want to touch any of these programs because they would lose the vote of the poor.

Now, when an illegal immigrant has a child on US soil, I believe the child is an American citizen at that point and would be entitled to most of the above benefits. So, it is not the illegal immigrant that is getting the handouts, but the illegal immigrants child that is a US citizen by birth. Exactly what the future holds for us with all these children remains to be seen, but I know plenty of immigrant children that are just fine (i.e., me, my brothers, and some of my clients).

Again, I think we need to revamp the welfare/handout system, limit the amount of freebies, and lock down the borders to a certain degree.