There's been a spate of articles in recent days complaining that the Trump Administration is moving to prevent welfare recipients from obtaining green cards. We are in one of those Narrative Shift moments.

It seems just yesterday that the Left was arguing that immigrants don't use welfare [Immigrants Don't Drain Welfare. They Fund It. by Laura Reston, The New Republic, September 3, 2015]

Now, we are being told they do use welfare. In fact, they desperately need it, and you are a monster if you think there's a problem with this.

A typical passage from Slate:

Immigrant advocates immediately raised concern that even mentioning the proposed new rule could push low-income immigrants to avoid requesting public benefits out of fear that it could jeopardize their chances of receiving a green card in the future. Although the move shouldn’t affect those who already have green cards, advocates are also concerned they will stop using public benefits to be on the safe side. And those who would most likely be affected would be children of immigrants who are in the United States legally. “This would force families—including citizen children—to choose between getting the help they need and remaining in their communities,” said Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “The last thing the federal government should do is punish families that have fallen on hard times for feeding their children or keeping a roof over their heads and avoiding homelessness.” [White House Wants to Deny Green Cards to Immigrants Who Receive Public Benefits, by Daniel Politi, September 23, 2018]

Of course, the "citizen children" should not be citizens at all, and the most important step that needs to be taken is repealing birthright citizenship. Yet leaving that aside, why are welfare recipients even considered for green cards? After all, being a "public charge" was historically one of the reasons used to exclude potential immigrants.

Even National Review, which has cucked hard on birthright citizenship, thinks this is a bridge too far.

Special cases such as refugees aside, there is no reason whatsoever for the U.S. to welcome immigrants who cannot support themselves without taxpayer subsidies. Current policy does a horrible job of implementing this principle, and therefore we endorse the Trump administration’s new effort to tighten the policy up... Our laws say that immigrants are ineligible for visas and green cards if they are likely to become dependent on the safety net funded by U.S. taxpayers. It’s time to start enforcing that policy. [Immigrants should support themselves, by The Editors, September 24 2018]

The indispensable Daniel Horowitz at Conservative Review forcefully argued last month that even the idea of immigrants receiving welfare would have been horrifying to the Founding Fathers.