Immigration

• Gov. Romney supports a policy of “self-deportation,” which aims to make the lives of the undocumented so difficult that they would choose to leave the country voluntarily.
• Gov. Romney also supports Arizona’s “papers please” law, which requires that law enforcement officers demand proof of legal status from anyone they suspect is undocumented.
• Rep. Ryan voted for the infamous Sensenbrenner bill (H.R. 4437) back in 2005, which made it a felony to be in the country without immigration status.
• Gov. Romney has promised to veto the DREAM Act, which would provide kids who lack immigration status and came to the United States as children the opportunity to earn citizenship by going to college or serving the country through military service.
• Rep. Ryan voted against the DREAM Act in 2010.

Poverty

• The Hispanic poverty rate increased from 25.3 percent in 2009 to 26.6 percent in 2010. Thirteen million Latinos were considered poor in 2010, representing an increase of 893,000 since 2009.
• More Latino children are living in poverty—6.1 million in 2010—than children of any other racial or ethnic group.
• Rep. Ryan gets 62 percent of his budget cuts from programs for lower-income Americans. His budget would kick millions off of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and would gut the Women, Infants, and Children nutrition program. Nineteen percent of nutrition assistance participants are Hispanic, and Hispanics represent the largest racial or ethnic group in the Women, Infants, and Children program.
• Gov. Romney’s budget plans could kick 13 million people off of food stamps.

Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program

• In 2009, 27 percent of Hispanic Americans—13 million people, including 9 million children—were covered by Medicaid.
• According to the National Council of La Raza, Latinos are about two times more likely than whites to have coverage through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program; nearly half (49.3 percent) of Latino children have Medicaid or are covered by the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
• Rep. Ryan proposed ending the Medicaid entitlement, instead providing fixed-dollar- amount funding to states through block grants that would reduce funding for the program, thus jeopardizing the coverage and protections currently guaranteed for children and other vulnerable populations.
• The Ryan budget would dramatically reduce funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program by cutting nearly $29 billion in two years alone. [MORE]