Today 9 percent of the American population is foreign born. This term is used to describe what happens when one immigrant arrives and sponsors relatives, causing one after another to come to the United States over a short period of time. The study found that an average of 12 years passes from the time an immigrant comes to America and the time he or she sponsors a close relative. It is therefore fatuous to argue that cutting family-based immigration will somehow reduce illegal immigration. Targeted measures, such as Senator Abraham's amendment to the Senate's illegal immigration bill, would address that problem by preventing those who overstay their visas from receiving any new visas for at least three years.
Immigrants do make somewhat heavier use of means-tested welfare programs than natives.
There have been especially flagrant abuses by immigrants of particular welfare programs, such as Supplemental Security Income. To the extent that welfare use by immigrants is a problem, this can be addressed by restricting the welfare eligibility of immigrants, not by keeping immigrants out. Immigrants depress the wages and working conditions of American citizens. It is also contradicted by virtually all other studies on the subject. For example, in the 1980s the U.S. accepted 7 million new immigrants, but unemployment fell sharply and family incomes rose.