A nonpartisan report has confirmed the longstanding belief of many critics of US immigration policy that the federal government would save a great deal of money by putting an end to automatic welfare payments for immigrants coming from Cuba. The conclusion was reached by the Congressional Budget Office following analysis of proposed legislation from two Cuban-American members of the Republican Party, Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Carlos Curbelo.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the federal government could save as much as $2.45 billion over the course of a decade if it stops automatically treating new immigrants from Cuba as refugees who deserve to receive aids such as food stamps. Adopting this policy could save around $1.05 billion between next year and 2021 and then a further $1.4 billion between 2022 and 2027.
The savings provide an extra selling point for Rubio and Curbelo’s bill, which they have failed in order to put an end to Cuban immigrants who send the benefit money they are given back home to Cuba. Congressional Republican leaders, particularly Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan, have declared a lack of interest in dealing with any legislation in regards to immigration, but the pair may have more success after the report from the CBO.
Curbelo says that the generosity of the United States has been being abused for too long already and that the Congressional Budget Office’s report only makes it more important to pass the Cuban Immigrant Work Opportunity Act as quickly as possible.