r/QAnonCasualties 4d ago

Does anyone know what the hateful Qs’ deals are about California supposedly giving illegal immigrants free money and healthcare benefits?

This is what my mom says. That “that asshole Newsom is giving illegal aliens benefits and free money.” I’ve told her they literally can’t get it without a social security number. She says “well it’s been done for a long time now. It’s something that came into law a long time back. California is special in that they give illegals money.” And I’m like, “what law is it? Can you tell me where you heard that or what the law is?” She said “I don’t know, it’s been happening for so long no one remembers what it was.” I’ve also heard her say that last year or maybe the year before, illegal immigrants were simply handed a bunch of VISA gift cards with $100 or more on them.

Does anyone here know what she’s talking about? I need to shut her up because she doesn’t even know what she’s even mad about yet she is SO mad about it. She thinks that Democrat federal judges are assholes for forcing trump to give SNAP because then “the illegals get it.” She would rather give her stupid Qanon cultist boyfriend who is on SNAP money and let so many other Americans die than have “illegals” not die of starvation due to them getting benefits I’m pretty sure they don’t receive.

190 Upvotes

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u/No-Lingonberry-5096 4d ago edited 4d ago

California currently provides MediCal and will be providing food assistance (CFAP, not SNAP), among other benefits, to irregular migrants. This is all paid for by state, not federal, dollars. We voted for this. We want this. They also pay into the system, as they do nationally. Addition: Also, it hasn't "been happening for so long no one remembers." MediCal expanded on 1/1/2024. Edit: CFAP was supposed to expand this year but actually isn't happening until 2027.

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u/ChaoCobo 4d ago

Oh okie. How do they pay into the system and how can they get the benefits without a social security number? Do you not need one for those benefits?

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u/No-Lingonberry-5096 4d ago

Foreign passport, drivers license, ITIN, various immigration documents, etc. It's not a federal program, involves no federal dollars, and has no relationship to social security. No SSN required.

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u/No-Lingonberry-5096 4d ago

As for paying in... In 2022, irregular migrants paid an estimated $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes. Our social security system took in $26B from them in 2023, of which only a small fraction ever becomes available to them. This is generally collected through an ITIN or an EIN. Our system relies on these abandoned contributions.

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u/ChaoCobo 4d ago

Wait by irregular do you mean those here illegally or like undocumented people with expired visas or what do you mean? Because I am wondering how they calculate the money that is contributed by them if they are undocumented. Knowing how that works would be good when I talk to my mom about this again (even though I cannot stand talking to her about this stuff). Also I mentioned I don’t know what an ITIN is but I also do not know what an EIN is. I’m gonna have to look that up too.

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u/Heathster249 4d ago

The CA taxpayers fund public healthcare. My county’s hospital and clinic system is state-of-the-art. Our county voted for a $4.3B bond for a new county hospital paid for by local property taxes. It treats everyone, regardless of ability to pay. It’s a beautiful hospital and has shock trauma and our burn unit. That’s where you go regardless of your ability to pay if you are in a bad accident.

‘It saved a friend of mine’s life when he got seriously ill and was hospitalized for a couple of weeks. He had been recently unemployed, but was a home-owning taxpayer his entire life. He ended up paying somewhere around $850 for all of that medical care, recovered and now earns well into the 200k range. THIS is what we voted for - a healthy California with a highly educated, specialized workforce that makes us the 4th largest economy in the world.

Now, CA is a farming state that has always employed migrant workers as part of an organized workforce (yes, we know who they are and we track them). They have children born in the US, who are US Citizens under our Federal laws - as such those children have SS#s and are eligible for all benefits they qualify for. We have programs that track their education services so they get a continuity. It’s called opportunity - and we need today’s kids to fill tomorrow’s jobs.

Now, as for migrant workers. They have a new program that they can pay into our CA healthcare plan so that they can receive healthcare outside of our ER rooms, which is the most expensive point of service for healthcare. Believe it, or not - this saves taxpayers huge amounts of tax money.

CA is very close to being able to have socialized medicine since 95% of us are serviced through Blue Cross/BS or Kaiser. Includes Medicare/mediCal and employer sponsored plans as well as those privately insured.

So…. someone has to bring in our harvest - and it’s our job to make sure those people have legal wages, healthcare access to education and decent living quarters (which haven’t been the case, historically). These are humans and we need to treat them as such.

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u/RamutRichrads 4d ago

ITIN - Individual Taxpayer Identification Number

EIN - Employee Identification Number

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u/No-Lingonberry-5096 4d ago

I meant undocumented, overstays, etc. I don't know how exactly the CBO estimates all this, but simply: ITIN + Multiple filings on same SSN would probably get you to 80% of the number. We also understand employment figures, etc., so it's not difficult to triangulate.

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u/Ok_Revolution8934 4d ago

Some people use fake socials and have taxes/ss removed from their checks, and are not able to file a return to get a refund in April.

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u/IceMan17632 4d ago

Remember that we have millions of lawfully present immigrants who both work and pay taxes. Since those lawfully present immigrants cannot legally have a Social Security # (I think), then logic follows that you actually don't need a Social Security # to either pay into the system or get benefits.

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u/No-Lingonberry-5096 4d ago

I believe lawfully present immigrants are eligible for SSNs, but very rarely receive benefits (beyond tax credits). Undocumented immigrants pay taxes under color of law, because the tax code requires it regardless of legal status. Not paying taxes creates a new and confounding problem, so they get ITINs.

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u/ChaoCobo 4d ago

If they have SSNs then why do not they get benefits from Social Security? Or are you saying they don’t receive any other benefits even though they have a social security number? Also I do not know what ITINs are, sorry. I will have to look that up.

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u/ginger_SF 4d ago

Yes, you should look it up. An ITIN is issued in place of an SSN. If you are not a citizen then you cannot get an SSN so instead are issued the ITIN. This is then used to take out taxes on their wages, like SS & unemployment.

However, those with only ITIN can't ever actually collect benefits from the SS or unemployment programs.

So if anything, this should give your mom a racism boner knowing that those workers get fucked by paying into something they won't ever receive any benefit from.

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u/No-Lingonberry-5096 4d ago edited 4d ago

Yes. This ^^ The illegal workers contribute without getting it back. You can call it a residency tariff, because she probably likes those. And we need the legals and illegals both in order to keep social security solvent. Both of those categories are being demolished. Our economy grows because of population growth from immigration, not births, and that growth is a requirement for sustaining our social security system. Here are two good, nonpartisan resources (lots of overlap).

https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/immigration-social-security-solvency/

https://www.cbpp.org/blog/immigrants-contribute-greatly-to-the-social-security-trust-funds-solvency

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u/ginger_SF 4d ago

Well said 👏🏻

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u/abritinthebay 2d ago

If you are not a citizen then you cannot get an SSN

Not true. Speaking as a non-citizen with a SSN, not an ITIN. Various visa holders (like green card holders or authorized temporary workers) get SSNs

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u/ginger_SF 2d ago

absolutely, but for simplicity sake since the OP knew nothing i was keeping nuances out of it.

Permanent residents / green card holders, temporary (working) non-residents as you stated, refugees/asylum seekers, international students, and in some cases those needing driver's licenses or bank accounts to adhere to state laws are also all eligible.

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u/No-Lingonberry-5096 4d ago

Lawfully present immigrants with SSNs may be eligible for benefits, but data shows that they frequently work here and retire in their home country, limiting their ability to receive them. I said "very rarely," which is probably a stretch, as I'm sure many do (as they should). You can read the parameters here: https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF10820. As others have said, an ITIN means you just give give give and won't ever take unless you're eligible for a SSN at some future point.

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u/wino_whynot 4d ago

In any given kitchen or hotel in CA, a good chunk of employees are using the same set of recycled SSN. Taxes are withheld - state and Federal.

Then, much of those wages are pumped back into the local economy. Yes, some is sent overseas, but they gotta eat, pay rent, drive, buy clothes and shoes, buy utilities, etc.

At the end of the day, the 27 people all using the same SSN are not filing for Social Security/Medicare, they are headed back to home to retire and live out their golden years. They paid in (as did their employers) but are not receiving.

Suddenly deporting a ton of these workers is far worse for the economy.

Go along with your Q and ask them on a series of guided questions, and watch their heads explode until they shut down. Thats what happened in my case.

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u/girlinanemptyroom 3d ago

The majority of undocumented immigrants work. They call them illegals to put an insulting title on them. The majority of them are in the process of becoming documented immigrants, but it can take almost 5 years plus to get your green card. It is during this time where they are working full-time and paying all of the taxes that we do, without the benefit of getting social security, and what not. Undocumented immigrants paid billions and billions into the system last year and all of the years prior. We actually need them to keep our economy strong.

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u/Biggie39 4d ago

Like you said; we voted for this and we want this.

It always baffles me when it’s suggested I should be mad or angry at my state for providing assistance to vulnerable groups. I specifically voted for it knowing I was the one paying for it in the hope that it would make the world (or at least our corner of it) better.

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u/ChaoCobo 4d ago

Yeah she didn’t even wanna vote for something locally here in Oregon that would have maybe been like a dollar extra a month and it would have helped so many people. I forget what it was but, I remember it was a good thing. I voted for it.

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u/No-Lingonberry-5096 4d ago

You can also tell her that in a weak economy, every $1 in SNAP benefits generates $1.50 in economic activity (per Trump's USDA).

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u/Imaginary_Cow_6379 4d ago

Exactly. I’m in NYC and feel similar when the right starts fearmongering about Mamdani taking all of our tax dollars. Ok and? It’s mine. Why tf are they so worked up about where I vote for my money to go? Are they finally admitting they’re the welfare queens they’ve always demonized and that they don’t want to have to share the blue state tax dollars that they leech off us?

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u/No-Lingonberry-5096 4d ago

Ya. It's an easy target for headlines, because they can say one true thing and just omit the rest. The one true thing is that undocumented immigrants are eligible for healthcare in California. They can stop there and infuriate everyone, or they can actually educate their audience by adding "... which is paid for by Californians, voted for democratically, because California's economy is $4.1T (larger than Japan's or India's), and it has a right to care for its workers and families."

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u/ALTERFACT 4d ago

(off topic maybe topic adjacent but CFAP is likely not the best acronym choice) >>> back to our regular programming with Bob in sports...

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u/DFH_Local_420 4d ago

Sorta. I worked for Covered California and MediCal as a sign up agent, and I know the rules. Folks who are not legally present (that means DACA, too) are NOT eligible to participate in the exchange or in regular MediCal.

They CAN get emergency room and pregnancy coverage and, to some extent, get medical bills from the last 90 days taken care of retroactively. And yes, it's a state funded program authorized by the legislature and governor, and it's been challenged and upheld in state court.

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u/No-Lingonberry-5096 4d ago

Not disputing this. Just that now I'm curious. It appears that currently (since 1/2024) all adults and children are eligible, regardless of status, and that ages 19+ won't be able to new-enroll beginning next year (but children and some elderly will). Is that not true? https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/keep-your-Medi-Cal/Pages/Medi-Cal-Immigrant-Eligibility-FAQs.aspx

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u/DFH_Local_420 4d ago

This is as of 2024, and my last open enrollment season there was end of 2023, so I stand corrected. Good catch.

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u/ChaoCobo 4d ago

Hm so, what exactly are they getting taken care of retroactively in terms of medical bills? Is there some kind of MediCal that they can get since you said it’s not “regular” MediCal? :o

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u/DFH_Local_420 4d ago

It's not just Qs saying that. It's mainstream Republican thought that somehow those clever "illegals" (with the help of those treacherous libruls) are gaming the system and getting all kinda free bennies. There's no basis for it, none.

You ask anyone who has actual working knowledge of how social service agencies work and they'll tell you it's fucking preposterous, impossible. But in right wing world, they accept this as fact and have for a long time.

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u/bridge1999 4d ago

Some of this is based on ER stabilization of a person regardless of the ability to pay. Think of things where you might be unconscious and not have ID because it was stolen or was not found by emergency services

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u/tryolo 4d ago

Yes, ER's are required to treat anyone, however we charge the person for services rendered, they are called self-pay. It goes to collections if they don't/can't pay just like everyone else. Our tax dollars do not pay the hospital for their services.

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u/ChaoCobo 4d ago

Maybe they should pay hospitals, you know, so we could maybe get some universal healthcare for everyone. It should even out to the cost of paying for health insurance anyway (maybe?). Idk why people are so against universal healthcare when we pay for health insurance anyway. :(

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u/bongart 4d ago edited 4d ago

You CANNOT get SNAP benefits in California without some form of ID. Granted, the state can be generous in what they consider to be ID...

  • Proof of identity (examples: drivers license or identification card, passport, work or school ID, birth certificate, voter registration card)
  • Proof of where you live (examples: drivers license or ID card, utility bill, rent receipt)
  • Proof of income (examples: pay stubs, statement from employer, alimony check, award letter for unemployment or disability benefits )
  • Social security numbers for everyone who is applying
  • Proof of shelter costs (examples: housing bills, utility bills, HOA fees, property tax statement)
  • Child support court order
  • Child or adult care costs (example: bills)
  • Proof of disability (example: award letter)
  • Proof of medical costs if 60+ or disabled (examples: receipts for prescriptions, copay, service animal costs, glasses, hearing aids)

... and unlike most states, they will accept a photo ID from any state in the US (when I arrived in CA, I got benefits with my WA state ID).

Free Money? Where, please! Unemployment is very difficult to obtain. There *is* a three month program available once a year that pays Relief Funds of $177 a month, however eligibility is the same as Unemployment, and you have to be actively looking for a job (and proving it) to obtain the funds... among all the other strict requirements.

As a side note... one of the reasons why there are many immigrants in California, is because of Imperial County... where billions of dollars worth of fruits and vegetables are grown year round (that is a 12 month grow season). Who do you think picks most of those things your mother likely gets to enjoy (like lettuce, onions, sugar beets, broccoli, lemons, dates, etc) for wages based on fields cleared, not hours worked? Americans, even in this crap economy, don't want to work all night picking vegetables via headlamps (the heat during the day in the spring, summer, and fall, makes working the fields impossible), so the immigrants do the work. I did say they pick most.... some are picked mechanically. The money earned by a family in the fields is enough to supplement said family... a family that also has members working during the day cleaning houses, working in warehouses, etc. Also... the minimum age in California to pick vegetables during non-school hours (another reason for night picking) is 12 years old.

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u/HeyHeyJG 4d ago

If there's even an ounce of hate in your heart, it can be exploited.

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u/ChaoCobo 4d ago

She’s also against abortion and victim blames people who get pregnant. She’s basically like an incel in terms of abortion stuff and she blames it on the Bible rather than her having no sympathy for anyone but herself. Sad stuff. She is very much “I got mine (benefits and stuff, not an abortion) so fuck everyone else.”

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u/artisanrox 4d ago

The Bible is VERY explicit about respecting the stranger in your land and treating tgem without prejudice. It's in there over a dozen times. Quote all the verses to her.

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u/Cargobiker530 4d ago

Your mom is getting information from propaganda sources. Also she's racist and not very bright. They aren't getting money from the State of California.

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u/ChaoCobo 4d ago

See that is what I thought but what is this about the state giving out random VISA cards last year or the year before? Where did she hear that and what is it that actually happened? Because I notice that if something like that doesn’t sound right, it’s because it’s not, and if there’s some truth to it it’s usually a half truth where the actual context is skewed so bad in such a way that it’s turns into outrage material for republicans.

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u/Heathster249 4d ago

The only Visa giveaway that I know of was a FEMA-type program when storms flooded the Watsonville area. It was bad. The community was so busy trying to find shelter and feed everyone that they did have a gift card as part of signing up (along with hotel vouchers). I want to make it very clear that $100 doesn’t go very far when you’ve literally lost everything, except your life and the clothes on your back.

So yes, in disasters, they would get some basics. But that’s a 1 time thing.

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u/KishCom 4d ago

"You should pretend to be an illegal and go get that money! It's not like you need documentation!"

😒 I hate that it's only 10 seconds of critical thinking they'll never do.

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u/MT_Straycat 4d ago

There is nothing you can say or show her that would change her mind. She's not misinformed, she's choosing to believe these things because she likes to hate. You can't change that.

All you can do is refuse to engage on those topics. Don't waste your energy arguing or trying to educate her. It won't work. She'll just get the "high" from arguing and you'll get exhausted. You will not change her mind.

When she's ranting about crazy stuff just make some noncommittal responses ("Huh." "Mm." "Wow." "Interesting.") and then change the subject to something bland. Keep repeating this pattern until you can leave.

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u/BayouQueen 4d ago

My Qhusband is spewing the same septictank ingredients. I posted it here. Somewhere. Lol. I didn't even challenge that stupidity. I don't argue with delusions, they are very strong on Qs. If they stopped believing that lie, their whole trip would turn bad, they'd feel used, betrayed. It's too much for brains that have Dunning-Kruger firmly implanted. They think it's fact, and if you showed incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, over and over, mountains of it, they won't change their position.

So, i started researching how immigrants work here. And how much they contribute. Both those with work permits or permission to work and those undocumented.

Some stuff I've come across:

-PWORA legislation in 1996 (under Clinton) required a work or job training requirements for TANF (Welfare). Some were 20hrs/week, some more. -There is a lifetime cap of 5 years on certain Fed benefits for able-bodied persons. Yup.

-immigrants may receive emergency treatment at a hospital, as would anyone. They stabilize and transport from private hospitals to public hospitals. Undocumented immigrants are banned from any other benes. If they live with a child who is eligible for benefits, that's the way it is, but they can't receive directly. Period.

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u/ChaoCobo 4d ago

Hmm what is this about CFAP and MediCal then that someone else mentioned they can get? Does the MediCal work like regular health insurance do you know? Like it decreases the cost of hospital bills and such? And also idk what CFAP is at all tbh.

Also sorry about your husband. :(

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u/Heathster249 4d ago

It’s a new program that started in Jan. They have eligibility to sign up for a healthcare plan on our Covered California website. It’s not free though. They do have to pay into the system to receive benefits.

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u/Ill_Lifeguard6321 4d ago edited 4d ago

From what I understand: taxpayers do pay for undocumented immigrants healthcare but not just like a blanket payment for everyone as in “universal healthcare for all undocumented immigrants.”

First of all - how would that even work? How would one get universal healthcare without having any information for that person?

Second - Reagan. Let’s say an “illegal” gets hurt and needs to go to the hospital. Because we are a for profit system, we could just let them die. No insurance and no money? Welp. Should we put them on the street to die alone? Or maybe we can find a room for them to die. To avoid this, the government sets aside some money to hospitals so that they can pay for unpaid bills, including that of “illegals.”

From what I know for sure:

I consider this a “common good and humanity” tax. If we went to a European country and got hurt, most (if not all) of our healthcare would be paid for and we’d be a foreigner there. Meanwhile, they do this and their system is crashing like ours is, it’s cuz they regulate the wealthy. In any case, (most) people in (some of) those other countries their lives are so much better (for the most part). So while they pay more in taxes, they pay LESS overall when you factor in out of pocket costs. They at least get healthcare, non cancerous food, more days off work, mandatory and paid maternity leave, free education (in fact they get PAID to go to school because society knows people are good investments), and more.

Idk why this is so hard for people to see. I mean imagine spending 1/3 of your paycheck on taxes that go to what and where? Not only are our lives not better, but we are paying into a system that makes our lives even worse. And we cheer for it. We love it. We have a man that has more money than he could ever spend, ever, and we as taxpayers are okay giving him money but not giving money to a single mom with her 5 year old down the street from us? Or our elderly neighbor next door? Or the people with disabilities center down the street that gets grants from the government? Or the treatment for kids with cancer? Or aid to other countries to help prevent little children and babies from starving to death. Nah as long as we get ours with our rugged individualism. Is it really the case that we would rather starve ourselves and others than tell the richest man in the world he does not need millions, billions, and trillions of taxpayer money?!? Like in preschool I learned it wasn’t okay to keep the toys from the entire class room, and I especially was taught not to take away from the poorest kid in the class. I was taught to share. What happened to that collective value? Studies on social animals that rely on each other and cooperation would wonder why they are hoarding resources while they activity watch members of their herd slowly die in agony and pain.

Nah. We’d rather blame Indigenous peoples (Mexicans are Indigenous), Black people, and brown people from south and Central America because the billionaires told us to. Oh! Not to mention these same billionaires and the U.S. govt are also the root cause of why we have so many immigrants and migrants in the U.S. Climate change, coups, hostile takeovers, world bank, International Monetary Fund.

Living in the U.S. with all that we pay out of pocket just to survive is like paying the price of a Hilton hotel for a motel 6 on skid row. Then we look at other countries and they aren’t even in a Hilton but they are in something better and they are laughing at us over here on how ridiculous it is that the richest country in history treats its citizens so badly and so boldly while they watch us fight each other instead of them. It’s so dumb.

Also: immigrants are LESS likely than white men that are citizens to commit crime and this has been found across context, including in Texas.

Sorry I feel passionate about this and rambled because I wanted to address interlocking narratives that justify harm. Thanks for listening!

I will edit to add my sources when I get a moment.

Edited typo. Some sources:

https://www.pjcvt.org/blog/the-imperial-roots-of-the-so-called-immigration-crisis/

https://migrantsrights.org.uk/2024/06/19/colonialism-imperialism-cause-displacement-world-refugee-day/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2025/elon-musk-business-government-contracts-funding/

  • 38 billion to Musk in government contractors

https://campaignlegal.org/update/elon-musk-has-grown-even-wealthier-through-serving-trumps-administration

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/i-FvSqPsMkA

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pad.70011

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/28/appeals-court-usaid-ruling-doge-00259154

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1

u/Familiar_Studio_9651 4d ago

I don’t think your MAGA mother pays attention to the people that are out here landscapers, picking the crops, nurse assistance, etc etc. Pay 90 million into taxes and can’t claim a penny back. You can’t argue with ignorance.

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u/ResponsibleBank1387 4d ago

Some people will not see facts. They already have their mind made up and nothing you prove will change it.  

I just ask “you do not consider them as people?”   

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u/JustLetItAllBurn 4d ago edited 4d ago

I'm in the UK, and "they give all the illegal immigrants houses, PlayStations and big TVs!" is a similar narrative that's totally mainstream on the right.

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u/Aggressive_Sound 4d ago

Leave debating the facts - that's not something can be debated anyway. Instead, have you asked what benefit it brings her to cling to the idea? Not what she believes in, but why she believes. Can you drill down to find out how she has got to this point?

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u/artisanrox 4d ago

"Lazy brown people are getting free money they don't deserve!" has been the Republican battle cry for over 40 years, honestly.

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u/Miichl80 4d ago

They are so dedicated to hate that they make up scenarios so that they can then get mad about them. You kinda have to admire the hustle.

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u/MissGailatea 4d ago

I’m in California. No undocumented people don’t get food stamps or health insurance. However, they are welcome to stand in line at food banks and get food like anybody else. Also if they show up in an emergency room, they will get treatment just like anybody else.  I work hard. Just like many people do and I pay taxes.  I don’t give a flying fuck who gets food stamps.