A majority of “non-citizens,” including those with legal green card rights, are tapping into welfare programs set up to help poor and ailing Americans, Census Bureau data shows. In fact, 63 percent of non-citizens are using a welfare program. Moreover, instead of decreasing over time, the number grows to 70 percent for those here 10 years or more.

Paul Bedard has the details in this report for the Washington Examiner.

President Trump is trying to reduce the exploitation of our welfare system by immigrants. He has proposed new rules making it harder for prospective immigrants to qualify for lawful permanent residence — green cards — if they use or are likely to use U.S. welfare programs. But without a vigorous policy of deporting illegal immigrants, getting a green card might not strike some immigrants as worth having to forego welfare.

The 63 percent welfare-usage figure translates to 4,684,784 million non-citizen households receiving welfare. Nearly all of them, 4,370,385, have at least one worker in the house.

One major source of populist discontent in France is the generosity of the French welfare system towards non-citizens. This isn’t the primary grievance of the protesters whose demonstrations are rocking the country, especially Paris, but it isn’t far below the surface.

I don’t think the U.S. is as generous to immigrants as France is. However, the Census Bureau’s findings are disturbing. As they become better known, they are likely to fuel populist discontent — and should.

NOTE: This post has been modified slightly to reflect the fact that the data cited comes not from a Census Bureau report, but from Census Bureau data. The Center for Immigration Studies mined the data.