President Trump’s claim about immigrants ‘immediately’ collecting ‘welfare’

The following article by Michelle Ye Hee Lee was posted on the Washington Post website August 4, 2017:

“The RAISE Act prevents new migrants and new immigrants from collecting welfare … They’re not going to come in and just immediately go and collect welfare. That doesn’t happen under the RAISE Act. They can’t do that.”
—President Trump, news conference, Aug. 2, 2017

“We also believe that those seeking to immigrate into our country should be able to support themselves financially and should not be able to use welfare for themselves or the household for a period of at least five years.”
—Trump, speech in Youngstown, Ohio, July 25, 2017

As a part of the administration’s efforts to restrict legal and illegal immigration, President Trump endorsed a sweeping Senate bill that would slash legal immigration levels by half over a decade. The Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act would create a points system for employment-based green cards, so that people applying for visas would need to meet certain requirements. Continue reading “President Trump’s claim about immigrants ‘immediately’ collecting ‘welfare’”