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I consider myself a liberal, and base my vote on the needs of people first, but the way this question is worded, particular the world "entitled", must lead me to write for the "No" side.

No one is "entitled" to benefits. The eligibility of benefits should be, and generally are, based on needs. The Republican creation of the catch phrase "entitlements" was propaganda designed to distract from the basic concept of helping people who have needs they can not meet with their own resources, but the concept remains valid.

Illegal immigrants are not citizens of this country, and therefore are not part of the social contract that this country is founded on - taking care of each other. They do not contribute to the tax structure which is part of this social contract, and which pay for necessary infrastructure and services, including any benefit programs.

While need may exist among illegal immigrants, the focus should be on determining their eligibility for productive citizenship rather than adding them onto benefit rolls. If the purpose of their immigration was to improve their lives through work then, given a desire to come forward and resolve their illegal status and pending anything that would disqualify them, we should provide opportunities to become part of our social contract.

It would be important to develop clear guidelines for moving those eligible from illegal to legal status, with timelines and benchmarks. Temporary work visas could be obtained while this process is going on, as well as temporary support programs with clear expiration dates, tied to the timelines and benchmarks.

As was stated earlier - no one is "entitled" to benefits. No US citizen or legal immigrant is automatically eligible for these programs - they are based on need. Saying that illegal immigrants should be "entitled" to benefits would endow them with extra rights and privileges, and should not be done.

Learn more about this author, Rob O'Hannon.
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