Upset By Welfare Law, Billionaire Pitches In

Upset by what he calls a “mean-spirited” welfare overhaul that denies food stamps and other federal aid to legal immigrants, billionaire George Soros is offering $50 million to help lawful newcomers harmed by the law.

“There are real people out there being hurt; that is what I am responding to,” the Hungarian-born financier told a news conference as he announced his Emma Lazarus Fund.

It is named for the poet whose words are inscribed on the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free …”

The idea, he told reporters, is to provide direct assistance for services that help people qualify for citizenship - payment for Englishlanguage instruction, civic education, even the $95 fee required for naturalization.

Citizenship, which takes a minimum of five years of residency, brings with it access to assistance denied to non-citizens under the Republican-drafted bill that President Clinton reluctantly signed.

“We want to spend the bulk of the money on the people themselves,” he said.

Soros, who left Hungary in 1947 for England, said he knows what it’s like to need the government safety net. While working as a railroad porter in England, he broke a leg. Without access to the British health care system, “I couldn’t have taken care of myself,” he said.

He moved to the United States in 1956 and became a citizen in the early 1960s. Forbes magazine has estimated his wealth at $2.5 billion.

Under the law, some 900,000 of the more than 9.6 million noncitizens living legally in the United States will lose their food stamps, officials estimate. Another 500,000 elderly or disabled immigrants could lose Supplemental Security Income benefits.