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Welfare Use by Legal and Illegal Immigrant Households

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rangerrebew:
 Welfare Use by Legal and Illegal Immigrant Households
An Analysis of Medicaid, cash, food, and housing programs

By Steven A. Camarota September 2015


Download a PDF of this Backgrounder

Steven A. Camarota is the director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies.
[Lobbying]

This report is a companion to a recent report published by the Center for Immigration Studies looking at welfare use by all immigrant households, based on Census Bureau data. This report separates legal and illegal immigrant households and estimates welfare use using the same Census Bureau data as that study. This analysis shows that legal immigrant households make extensive use of most welfare programs, while illegal immigrant households primarily benefit from food programs and Medicaid through their U.S.-born children. Low levels of education — not legal status — is the main reason immigrant welfare use is high.

Among the findings:

    An estimated 49 percent of households headed by legal immigrants used one or more welfare programs in 2012, compared to 30 percent of households headed by natives.

    Households headed by legal immigrants have higher use rates than native households overall and for cash programs (14 percent vs. 10 percent), food programs (36 percent vs. 22 percent), and Medicaid (39 percent vs. 23 percent). Use of housing programs is similar.

    Legal immigrant households account for three-quarters of all immigrant households accessing one or more welfare programs.

    Less-educated legal immigrants make extensive use of every type of welfare program, including cash, food, Medicaid, and housing.

    The overwhelming majority of illegal immigrants have modest levels of education; therefore, the high use of welfare associated with less-educated legal immigrants indicates that legalization would likely increase welfare costs, particularly for cash and housing programs.

    Restrictions on new legal immigrants’ access to welfare have not prevented them from accessing programs at high rates because restrictions often apply to only a modest share of immigrants at any one time, some programs are not restricted, there are numerous exceptions and exemptions, and some provisions are entirely unenforced. Equally important, immigrants, including those illegally in the country, can receive welfare on behalf of their U.S.-born children.

Introduction

This report is a companion analysis to "Welfare Use by Immigrant and Native Households: An Analysis of Medicaid, Cash, Food, and Housing Programs", recently published by the Center for Immigration Studies. That report examines welfare use for all immigrant-headed households, regardless of legal status, using the Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). This analysis uses information in the survey to distinguish legal and illegal immigrants to estimate welfare use by legal status. The findings show that, relative to natives, welfare use is high for both legal and illegal immigrant households.

As discussed at length in our earlier study, there is a significant body of research showing that the SIPP provides the most accurate picture of welfare use of any Census Bureau survey. Using the SIPP data to estimate welfare use based on the legal status of the household head shows that both legal and illegal immigrant households make extensive use of the nation's welfare system. Legal immigrant households have higher welfare use than native households for cash, food, and Medicaid, while illegal immigrant households have higher use than natives for food and Medicaid, but lower use for cash and housing programs.

MORE

http://cis.org/Welfare-Use-Legal-Illegal-Immigrant-Households

Oceander:
Since legal immigrants will tend to be at the lower end of the economic spectrum to begin with, it shouldn't come as any surprise that they use the services that are made available, including made available to them.

Or are they, too, not worthy of these services?

jmyrlefuller:

--- Quote from: Oceander on September 13, 2015, 07:09:59 pm ---Since legal immigrants will tend to be at the lower end of the economic spectrum to begin with, it shouldn't come as any surprise that they use the services that are made available, including made available to them.

Or are they, too, not worthy of these services?

--- End quote ---
The fatal flaw in our welfare system is to allow foreigners access to the public store. Once they're citizens, there's not much we can do, but those who are merely residents—and especially those here without permission—should, in my humble opinion, be prohibited from accessing public entitlements.

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