Do you think illegal immigrants should be able to use welfare/public assistance?

Absolutely not! If they eventually become citizens then yes they do. Too many people who are here illegally get too much already. Hell, even their kids get to go to school here. And babies born to illegals automatically become citizens?! Uhh...NO! I say guilt by association

there is a problem with the original question. The advocates for amnesty have intentionally confused the issues. any person who does not have the legal right to be here and is in the country unlawfully (whether by avoiding the port of entry or by overstaying a time-limited visa) is NOT an immigrant but is Unlawfully Present in the United States. This was formerly termed "illegal alien." but the advocates have published the term "alien" as offensive and to be avoided. I prefer "one who is unlawfully present" as most descriptive. and NO they should not be permitted public assistance other than a swift trip home. I figure if I would not be permitted to continue being unlawfully present in their home country with employment rights and government provided assistance, then they should not receive anything here. BTB: under US law, any person unlawfully present in the US can receive that paid trip home simply by asking ICE. only problem: s/he cannot come back for 10 years. wow.

You know that they are already prohibited from getting any federal or state-administered but federally-funded benefits, right? The question is moot.

Well, NO. Neither should half of the legal ones.

I agree illegal is the key word, those here legally and loose their job or other problems, beside illegal things, should be able to receive help.

Absolutely. The United States has one of the most bizzare social cultures of western society. We are more worried about having gun rights to kill other human beings than we are worried about taking care of other human beings. It doesn’t matter how they got here, if someone needs help they need help. You can judge a society by how well the best off take care of the worst off and in that regards Americans have a lot of work to do.

Not only should illegal immigrants not be eligible for welfare/public assistance, all welfare and public assistance programs need desperately to be tightened up such that the programs are reserved only for those who, by no fault of their own, are unable to support themselves or their families due to illness, injury, or disability, except for temporary situation.

I believe that we as a relatively wealthy people, have an obligation to care for those of our citizens who are unable to care for themselves -- and we do an extremely poor job of that today in far too many cases at the same time that we give these "entitlement" benefits to able-bodied, able-minded people perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, if only they were given the right incentives.

These kind of discussions have nothing to do with the purpose of this site.

Why should this even be a question? ILLEGAL means illegal...

No public assistance period...

And there's thousands of Canadians in the US illegally too getting public assistance ... this isn't a minority race issue...

I love how a lot of Americans in general are so naive when it comes to this subject. The majority of the illegal immigrants (not all) focus on working their butts off to support their families. This is because they usually come from countries where the only way to live is to work to eat. No money for new clothes, shoes, Internet, cars ect... This is why they want to come here. Of course I agree that the U. S. cannot keep accommodating all immigrants that illegally cross the border. The over all reality is that there are more American citizens who are on welfare illegally than illegal immigrants as a whole. Lastly, their are more illegal immigrants looking for honest work on the corner than holding a sign for a handout!