[cgag]

A plumber working on my pipes is upset, his wages are suppressed by competition from illegals getting paid under the table, while his rent has skyrocketed, and his taxes are paying for his illegal competitors food and rent and healthcare.

[celsoazevedo]

I'm not from the US, so forgive me for what is probably a dumb question, but how is an illegal receiving money for food, rent, and healthcare? Don't you need documents (aka be legal in the country) for that?

[itsoktocry]

In many instances, no. And that's where a lot of the anger and blow back stems from.

[don_neufeld]

This is just factually false.

https://www.nilc.org/resources/overview-immeligfedprograms/

[itsoktocry]

You're right, no one is getting benefits without paperwork, because that's what the rules say, and no one would break rules.

[celsoazevedo]

It would be interesting to see how that works. Even here in Europe where we usually have a strong(er) social net, the state wouldn't give me a benefit without going through a process requiring documents to prove who I am, my nationality, etc.

There are food banks and stuff like that, but that's usually from charities.

[kdmtctl]

They are not receiving any benefits. They are not legal literally. Work for cash. No safety net except peers who are often abusive. There are lot of this in EU, just not this visible.

[don_neufeld]

Parent comment is talking about working “under the table”, receiving cash off the books for work done. Not government benefits.

[celsoazevedo]

I don't think "illegals" means "people receiving money under the table", especially in the context of this thread. It sounds like they're referring to people living illegally in the country. Hence my question about "illegals" receiving benefits when usually we need to have documents to receive any state/government benefit.

[don_neufeld]

I was referring to the same people. The reason I said that is that employing someone who’s undocumented exposes the employer to enforcement risk, so many choose to keep the relationship hidden.

That’s how most undocumented people in the country survive: by working for employers who are breaking the law.

In terms of undocumented individuals benefits, that’s a common and almost entirely false claim.

While it is a complicated space (because of State vs Federal), the vast majority of “Illegals” are not eligible for the vast majority of benefits in the United States, with the exception of some emergency services.

There are some exceptions for victims of human trafficking and there like.

If you want to dig in: https://www.nilc.org/resources/overview-immeligfedprograms/

[miltonlost]

tell your plumber he's an idiot because his taxes are not paying for that, and his rent is not skyrocketing because of "illegals" (other than the illegal collusion of rental prices via price algorithm fixing).

[lurk2]

> and his rent is not skyrocketing because of "illegals"

Why is it skyrocketing?

[turnsout]

Definitely sounds like a real story