By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Wednesday U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R) from Alabama joined U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R)f from Iowa, Orrin Hatch (R) from Utah, and Pat Roberts (R)f from Kansas in releasing a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano regarding her department’s failure to respond to an oversight request for information on visa applications, which Sessions’ said should be readily providable.
The letter said, “On August 6, 2012, you received a letter from us that posed several questions regarding your Department’s apparent waiver of the legal requirement that those seeking citizenship and residency in the United States not be welfare reliant.”
The Senior Republican Senators wrote, “Your failure to respond to our oversight request is deeply troubling, and suggests that your Department is attempting to conceal information from the American people. We request that you provide us with all data requested by October 1, and stress the importance of responding to every item in the letter.”
On August 6, the same group of Senators wrote to Sec. Napolitano and State Department Secretary Hillary Clinton regarding the apparent waiver of a U.S. law that requires that potential immigrants and visa applicants not be reliant upon welfare.
According to Sessions the law states, “An alien who, in the opinion of the consular officer at the time of application for a visa, or in the opinion of the Attorney General at the time of application for admission or adjustment of status, is likely at any time to become a public charge is inadmissible.”
The Senators wrote in their first letter that they were, “Shocked to discover that both the State Department and DHS exclude reliance on almost all governmental welfare programs when evaluating whether an alien is likely to become a public charge.”
The Senators wrote in their first letter, “It has long been a sound principle of immigration law that those who seek citizenship in this country ought to be financially self-sufficient. We were thus shocked to discover that both the State Department and DHS exclude reliance on almost all governmental welfare programs when evaluating whether an alien is likely to become a public charge. Your agencies apply a cramped interpretation of the law in this regard, considering reliance on only two of nearly 80 federal welfare programs as evidence of likelihood of becoming a public charge: Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).”
Republican critics of the Obama Administration claim that this presidency has made it a policy to increase the population that is dependent on government wealth redistribution programs. The President meanwhile has continued to call on higher taxes on businesses and job creators.
