The Economist - USA (2022-05-21)

24 United States TheEconomistMay21st 2022

Activists  employ  two  broad  justifica­

tions for such moves. One is an accounting

argument:  that  they  have  positive  fiscal

multipliers  that  improve  economic  out­

put.  The  maths  is  debatable,  given  that

states  must  forgo  federal  dollars  when

funding  these  expansions.  As  yet,  the

amounts  involved  also  appear  relatively

small  for  rich  states:  the  ongoing  annual

cost of a full Medicaid expansion to undoc­

umented immigrants in California is esti­

mated to be $2.4bn. A bill under consider­

ation to create California’s version of a per­

manent excluded workers fund would cost

an extra $600m a year. Together, that is just

1.4% of the $213bn in general­fund spend­

ing that Mr Newsom has just proposed.

The  more  compelling  justification  is

moral. Advocates emphasise that undocu­

mented immigrants make up a dispropor­

tionate share of essential workers, and that

two­thirds have lived in America for more

than a decade. “I think as New Yorkers, we

need to do everything we can to create par­

ity  for  our  communities,  no  matter  their

status,”  says  Jessica  González­Rojas,  a

Democratic member of the state Assembly

from Queens, New York. “They pay into the

system...so they’re quite deserving of this.”

The  trajectory  remains  towards  expan­

sion  of  benefits.  In  Albany,  Ms  González­

Rojas has been agitating for legislation that

would qualify undocumented New Yorkers

for  government­sponsored  health  insur­

ance for the poor, the elderly and those of

working age. This year, much of that agen­

da  has  stalled  “largely  because  of  the  po­

tential  political  ramifications  in  our  elec­

tion year” and “the relentless attacks by Re­

publicans  on  how  we’re  spending  our  tax

money”. She calls the exclusion this year of

undocumented  children  from  a  pro­

gramme  to  expand  child­care  subsidies

“just cruel”. 

Asked  whether  or  not  she  worries  that

the  state’s  generosity  may  function  as  a

magnet  for  more  undocumented  immi­

grants, Ms González­Rojas is unperturbed:

“I  welcome  undocumented  communities.

I  know  they  fuel  our  economy,  they  make

our  neighbourhoods  richer  and  more  vi­

brant  and  are  people  I  love.  It  wouldn’t

bother me to have folks come here because

it’s  an  exciting  place  to  be,  and  as  long  as

the services are provided, I think we’ll have

a very vibrant economy.”

Within  the  Democratic  caucus,  dis­

agreement is hard to discern. Most home­

grown  criticism  comes  from  Republicans

who  are  in  the  minority.  “In  a  state  like

New York—or any state—we cannot confer

citizenship.  That  is  exclusively  the  role  of

the federal government. But we can confer

de facto citizenship when you provide un­

employment benefits, you provide identi­

fication,  drivers’  licences,  you  provide  ac­

cess to free or state­funded health care and

education,”  says  Rob  Ortt,  the  Republican

leaderoftheNewYorkSenate,whoargues

thattheissuemayhelphispartyelectoral­

lyinmoreconservativepartsofthestate.

“AlotofNewYorkersaregoing:‘OK,well

whataboutme?I’mnotondrugs;I haven’t

brokenthelaw;I’mnothereillegally.AllI

trytodoispaymyexorbitanttaxes.’”

Blueforbenefits,redforrage

Thesestateexperimentsfacepracticalpro­

blems. Once built up, government pro­

grammesarenoteasilydismantled.Inre­

cessions,thepledgedobligationstonon­

citizensmayseemhardertojustifytovot­

ers.Andalthougha pollin 2021 foundthat

a majority of Californians supported

health­care expansions for the undocu­

mented,a majorityofAmericansdonot.

Theprogrammesmaybecomea potentat­

tacklineina RepublicanPartywhichhas

previously done wellby criticising pro­

gressivesforwishingtoabolishthefederal

immigration­enforcement agency. New

YorkCity’svotingproposalhasattracted

criticisminRepublicanprimaries asfar

afieldasGeorgia,fuellingright­wingire.

The more seriousproblems are else­

where,though.DemocraticandRepubli­

canAmericaarefastsplintering.Thatis

trueonmattersofabortion,electoralle­

gitimacyandimmigration.InRepublican­

dominatedTexasthegovernor,GregAb­

bott,isfantasisingthata conservativeSu­

premeCourtwilloverturntheprecedentof

Plylerv Doe, meaningthathisstatewould

nolongerhavetopaythepublic­education

costsofundocumentedchildren.Heisal­

sogatheringunlawfulmigrantsarrested

onthestate’ssouthernborderandsending

thembythebusloadtoWashington,asa

signofdefiance to PresidentJoe Biden.

Thesedivergentimmigrationregimesare

emergingbecausetheillegal­immigration

questionhassolittlechanceofbeingre­

solvedfederally.Theauthorityofthefeder­

algovernmenttosetthecountry’simmi­

grationpolicyisdwindlingasa result.

Statesaresupposedtofunctionaslab­

oratoriesofdemocracy.Todaytheycom­

monlyactaslaboratoriesofdisunity.n

Home-grown horror

United States

Sources:GlobalTerrorismDatabase;PewResearchCentre *Notsurveyed in 2020

75

50

25

0

2000 05 10 15 19

Terroristattackswithincountry

Bymotive

Whitesupremacist Other

orxenophobic

100

75

50

25

0

2119182017

Share saying gun laws should be:

% responding*

Morestrict

About

thesame

Less strict

Domesticterrorism

Sickening theory and lethal practice

B UFFALO

A conspiracy theory that was once on the fringe leads to another mass shooting

“H

e was areally great guy,” says Dayna

Overton­Burns, of her friend Aaron

Salter, who was shot dead at Tops, the su­

permarket  on  Jefferson  Avenue  in  Buffalo

where he worked as a security guard. “You

can talk with him about anything,” she re­

counted  tearfully.  Mr  Salter,  a  retired  po­

liceman, tried to stop Payton Gendron, the

18­year­old  gunman.  But  Salter’s  gun  was

useless  against  the  assailant’s  bulletproof

vest.  Mr  Gendron,  who  live­streamed  the

horror on Twitch, a gaming site, killed ten

people  and  injured  three  more.  Eleven  of

his  victims  were  African­American.  All

“because of the colour of our skin”, says Ms

Overton­Burns.

From  a  180­page  manifesto  that  the

white  shooter  allegedly  wrote,  and  hun­

dreds  of  messages  he  apparently  posted

online, it is clear he targeted the supermar­

ket  because  it  was  in  a  mainly  African­

American  neighbourhood  in  New  York

state’s second­biggest city. He planned the

assault  for  months,  driving  the  200  miles

(320km)  from  his  small  town  near  New

York’s border with Pennsylvania, on recon­