I think our legislative process often misses the point when new legislation is being developed to address a problem.  The problem of drug usage and the associated drug violence is attacked by laws intended to prevent the sale of drugs rather than efforts to reduce the market for drugs by curtailing usage.  If there is no market for drugs, there won't be anyone selling them and we will not have the associated violence.  Gun violence and suicide are attacked by attempting to limit the ability of law abiding citizens to purchase or maintain ownership of firearms.  Why are we putting limitations on law abiding citizens instead of addressing the underlying cause of the violence, which often comes down to mental health?

Immigration falls into the same problem.  President Trump has unveiled his ideas for a new immigration plan which he has no power to implement.  New or revised legislation has to come from Congress.  President Trump's ideas are two pronged in an attempt to limit the number of low skilled people from coming into this country and at the same time improve the security at the border and in the interior of the country.  Again, in my opinion, attacking the wrong problem.

The same as drug usage and the violence that comes with it, for immigration the reason for the immigration needs to be considered.  Many illegal immigrants come in search of a better life in hopes of obtaining a job in a safer environment than their native country provides.  Some illegal immigrants may come for the free money offered through various welfare programs.  As a result of illegal immigrants wanting to make a better life for themselves some people will hire these illegals at lower wages to minimize the costs of labor.  Even if the employers are not taking advantage of these illegal immigrants, they are still breaking the law by employing them.

The post [Illegal Immigration and the Economy - Part 2](https://steemit.com/politics/@mikehamm/illegal-immigration-and-the-economy-part-2) detailed the increase in apprehensions of people crossing the southern border illegally starting in the late 1960's.  By the early 1970's the pool of potential employees was large enough that employers didn't need to increase wages to obtain labor.  Subsequently, between 1972 and 2013 wages in the United States only grew 8.9%.  Between the early 1980's and the financial crash of 2008, apprehensions of illegal immigrants bounce around 1,000,000 per year, assuming these efforts were 80% effective means we had an estimated 250,000 illegals entering the country annually.  Over those 25 years or so that means almost 6,250,000 illegal immigrants made it into our country.  Our government, that is supposed to have our best interest at heart, strove to maintain inflation rates around 3% which they did by allowing the illegal immigrant problem to keep downward pressure on wages.  Without the additional costs of wages pressuring inflation, the economy could grow at a faster rate and still maintain only a 3% inflation rate.  Since the early 1970's, these governmental policies have resulted in the devastation of the middle class in America.

To the question of whether illegal immigrants are elligible for public assistance programs we get the answer from the [National Immigration Forum](https://immigrationforum.org/article/fact-sheet-immigrants-and-public-benefits/) saying:

> Are undocumented immigrants eligible for federal public benefit programs?
>
> Generally no. Undocumented immigrants, including DACA holders, are ineligible to receive most federal public benefits, including means-tested benefits such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, sometimes referred to as food stamps), regular Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Undocumented immigrants are ineligible for health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and are prohibited from purchasing unsubsidized health coverage on ACA exchanges.

The key word in this question is "eligible" which can't be confused with "receiving" benefits.  From the [Center for Immigration Studies](https://cis.org/Report/63-NonCitizen-Households-Access-Welfare-Programs) we find out that 63% of non-citizen households receive some form of welfare.  When compared to citizen households:

<center>![numbers-welfare-18-f1.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/600x0/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmYyvg28SpcDEM9Q4K44NJ11hK7TUJgLDqAyrq6KE9PLLA/numbers-welfare-18-f1.jpg)</center>

While 35% of native citizen households receive some form of welfare, 63% of non-citizen households are receiving assistance.  For some people this provides a healthy motivation to immigrate from their native country to the United States.  As it can honestly be said illegal immigrants are not eligible for welfare assistance here, but they certainly have found ways around this restriction.

Our problem with immigration is not an immigration problem, it's an illegal immigration problem.  Trying to adjust the mix of who is immigrating into the country legally will have no impact on the illegal immigration problem.  Again, politicians are missing the point.  To fix the problem, we need to reduce the motivation for illegals to risk their lives to steal their way into the country.  

To do this our companies will have to stop employing illegal immigrants.  The result of this will be higher prices (inflation) as wages increase to entice individuals to take jobs they feel do not pay enough.  It's already illegal for companies to hire illegal immigrants, all we need to do is start enforcing these laws.  Start with the largest companies first and warn smaller companies to start cleaning up their act before their employees are scrutinized.  

The second thing that needs to be done is close the welfare loopholes allowing illegal immigrants to receive welfare benefits.  This will lead to more money being available to legal welfare recipients making it easier for them to be assisted at higher levels.  We as a society have a responsibility to assist those in the country legally that need assistance.  We do not have a responsibility to those that have stolen their way into this country.

President Trump has taken the initiative to put his ideas for immigration reform on the table which should be applauded.  It's unfortunate on two counts that these ideas won't help the problem.  First, legislation requires Congress to act which is a long shot at best.  Secondly, changing the mix of who can legally come into this country does nothing to address the real problem of illegal immigration.  The incentive for people to risk their lives to get into the country needs to be taken away.