[quote=@IceHeart] Oooh boy, well here is one of the main problems with the whole systems right here, the welfare system. The welfare system is one of the main contributors to the illegal immigrant problem in the first place. If the welfare system had better regulations and wasn't so easy to abuse there would not be so many problems in the first place. Most legal citizens, especially legal immigrants, hate seeing their hard earned cash given to people who came into the country improperly. There is very little more insulting to legal immigrants who worked their butts off see illegal immigrants get more help than them and actually have easier lives, just because they know how easy it is to abuse the current welfare system, especially if they have a lot of kids. A lot of ghettos are perpetually subsidized by the current welfare system that promotes, single parent households, baby making, and no incentive to actually work because all of their needs are taken care of by the government. Imagine if instead people were rewarded more for getting out of the 'poverty' zone instead of being incentivised to keep the status quo because if they start making too much money they lose most of their benefits. So in order to keep these benefits upholding these communities more and more illegals move in to create a 'safe space' where the community won't rat them out, have little motivation to work harder and better, and in some cases won't even bother to learn English[which really should become the national language to make things easier for everyone while promoting assimilation into society]. If welfare benefits could no longer be acquired by illegal immigrants, you can bet they would try a whole lot harder to become legal U.S. citizens so they could regain those benefits. I think everyone can pretty much agree that the Welfare system needs a massive overhaul to become sustainable and less enticing to non-citizens. Also on a side note, the welfare system actually does promote racism because of the percentage of minorities who are on welfare. [url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/07/12/the-politics-and-demographics-of-food-stamp-recipients/]This is just about food stamps but that is part of Welfare programs.[/url] Just looking at at the Black and Hispanic percentages, that is a huge chunk of the population so unfortuantely, some stereotypes are rather easily enforced when anyone looks into those communities. Now one could make the counter-argument that the 15% white population is a lot more since there are many more 'whites' in America meaning that 15% is a huge number; however, on the other side that means the much smaller populations of Hispanics and Blacks are disproportionately receiving benefits. Also, often times hispanics and blacks kind of lump together in places which makes it even easier for a random stranger to encounter one of these beneficiaries. Well, this study is a bit old now so who knows how it has changed but the point is the welfare system is proving rather counter-productive as certain people, especially minorities can be encouraged to [i]not[/i] try their best lest they loose benefits. A rehaul of the welfare system would save a lot of money and fix a lot of problems plaguing the United States right now. Also I do agree that it should be a case by case basis for people living her but it would certainly help matters if the welfare systems wasn't getting in the way of illegals wanting to become citizens. [/quote] The problems caused by welfare are minuscule compared to the problems that would be caused if it were to be withdrawn. Like I said, the welfare system exists to stabilize the working class, and if that stability is taken away, heads will roll. All the rehauls i've seen suggested are either just scaling it back, which would cause bigger problems, or fundamental misunderstandings on what bureaucracy is actually capable of doing. Believe me, I've been on the office side of filing plenty of this paperwork, it's not a perfect system because people don't make perfect systems. Of all my time actually dealing with people's welfare in the trenches, the only one I ever thought was truly abused was disability, and even there the application is mixed. I've seen people who clearly couldn't work get a conservative hard-ass dealing with their case and insisting they can still work, and I've seen people who got disability on minor anxiety. And I guarantee you, if you give most people trying to balance their benefits with a job the opportunity to make middle class wages, they would drop welfare in a heartbeat. Most people in my experience who have benefits also work, they just don't have a clear path to a good job. [url=http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2015/04/13/get-a-job-most-welfare-recipients-already-have-one/]Remember, most people on welfare have jobs.[/url] They are the working poor, not the lazy.