President Donald Trump made his stance clear when Alexander Marlow—the editor-in-chief of Breitbart News—cited the number of noncitizens dependent on welfare from a 2014 report.
“I don’t want to have anyone coming in that’s on welfare,” said Trump in an exclusive interview with Breitbart on March 11. “We have a problem, because we have politicians that are not strong, or they have bad intentions, or they want to get votes, because they think if they come in they’re going to vote Democrat, you know, for the most part.”
.@realdonaldtrump sat with Breitbart this afternoon for an exclusive interview in the Oval Office. First topic for discussion: Immigration.@AlexMarlow @mboyle1 @amandaleehouse @CharlieSpiering https://t.co/Qf5VQhsUVR
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) March 11, 2019
The report cited is from the Center for Immigration Studies, where it was found that 63 percent of noncitizen households receive welfare, compared to 35 percent of native households that also receive welfare. Noncitizens include illegal aliens—which make up roughly half of the noncitizens—permanent residents who have not naturalized, and long-term temporary visitors.
Education levels affect the amount of welfare accessed by both noncitizens and natives, according to the report. The lower the level of education, the more welfare was accessed.
President Blames Himself—Not a Bad Blame
As much as the president doesn’t want to see people on welfare, he made a point to say that different industries need more workers, according to Breitbart. And he took responsibility for this while acknowledging the opposition.
“They’ll take anybody into this country and we’re not allowing it, but because of the success of the country economically, some people say—I blame myself, but that’s a good blame not a bad one—but because of the country’s success … you need workers here,” Trump told Breitbart. “You have homes in Houston, and they can’t get people to build the homes—and lots of other places.
The president then spoke of NATO, saying that the United States owes a great deal of money, paying for military defense—something he believes the United States shouldn’t pay for. With troubles already present, the president chastised Democrats for willingly adding to the burden by allowing people into the country who will then depend on welfare.
“But I don’t like the idea of people coming in and going on welfare for 50 years, and that’s what they want to be able to do—and it’s no good,” Trump told Breitbart.
