The Rights Of The United States - 1356 Words

Human rights are inherent to being human and essentially a right obtained by any being born in the world. These rights do not discriminate whether one was born in the United States or in Mexico. Essentially, they are what it means to be a human being, not if you are a citizen to a specific country. Lawful permanent residents of the United States prior to 1996 were eligible for public benefits programs suck as the Food Stamp Program, Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), all on terms similar to those of native-born citizens (Capps, 2002). Bill Clinton’s administration enacted Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) in which significantly†¦show more content†¦Citizenship is when someone is a native born citizen and poses an issue for those immigrants who obtain green cards and live legally in the United States in regards to obtaining health care benefits. Those lega l immigrants who have not filed for citizenship are not eligible for health care, leaving them to fend for themselves. This can present many challenges, due to legal immigrants prior to 1996 being able to access health care benefits and now they are left uninsured with virtually no other options to better their health. Human rights were neglected in this issue particularly, as only native born citizens were eligible for health care, even if American’s immigrant population was rapidly growing. This essentially means that’s the majority of American’s population was left without health care benefits, a policy that directly neglects to consider human rights. Also, the 1996 welfare law is noted to create an atmosphere of fear and confusion among immigrants, as the greater majority aren’t fully aware of the American government in full detail (Waters, 2007, pg. 185). This law enacted by the American government did not consider the immigrant as a human, rath er a liability and essentially a non-citizen in their eyes. Socially, many people believe that immigrants, even those who live in American legally, are not â€Å"one of us,† even though they