Immigration Laws and Policies Since the (1980s) - The Welfare Reform Law Of 1996

Under Title IV of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA; PL 104-193)—also called the Welfare Reform Law—federal welfare benefits for legal immigrants were cut substantially and the responsibility for public assistance was shifted from the federal government to the states. (Illegal immigrants were already ineligible for most major welfare programs.) The law was designed to ensure that available welfare benefits did not serve as an incentive for immigration and that immigrants admitted to the United States would be self-reliant.

In the past, legal immigrants had generally been eligible for the same welfare benefits as citizens. Under the new rules, immigrants who had become naturalized citizens remained eligible for federal benefits, but most noncitizens were barred from participating in federal programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), food stamps, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Medicaid. The states were given the option of using federal funds for TANF and Medicaid for immigrants who arrived before the act took effect. Immigrants who arrived legally after the law took effect were ineligible for any federal funds until five years had elapsed; the states then had the option of granting their applications for TANF and/or Medicaid. As of December 2004, TANF was extended to March 31, 2005, pending reauthorization. (Medicaid is a joint federal-state health insurance program for certain low-income and needy people, while TANF is the federal block grant program for needy families with dependent children that replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Emergency Assistance, and Job Opportunities and Basic Skills programs.)

Restoration of Government Benefits

With support from both Democrats and Republicans, and intense lobbying by immigration advocates, on August 15, 1997, the Balanced Budget Act (PL 105-34) restored SSI and Medicaid benefits to legal immigrants who were receiving these benefits when the welfare reform law was passed.

On October 28, 1998, the Noncitizen Benefit Clarification and Other Technical Amendments Act of 1998 (PL 105-306) amended the welfare reform law, requiring that nonqualified aliens who were receiving SSI and Medicaid benefits on August 22, 1996, could retain these benefits.

FOOD STAMPS.

In 1997, when the food stamp restrictions went into effect, an estimated 940,000 of the 1.4 million legal immigrants receiving food stamps lost their eligibility. Nearly one-fifth were immigrant children. In Welfare Reform: Many States Continue Some Federal or State Benefits for Immigrants (Washington, DC, July 1998), the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) reported to the Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families that in 1997 and 1998, fourteen states had created food stamp programs that served about one-quarter of this immigrant group nationwide. Most recipients were children, the elderly, and the disabled. Some states continued to provide food assistance to ineligible legal immigrants.

In June 1998 the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act (PL 105-185) restored food stamp benefits to approximately 250,000 legal immigrants who would otherwise have been ineligible. According to a July 2002 estimate from the Food Research and Action Center, the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (PL 107-171), also known as the Food Stamp Reauthorization Act, restored access to food stamps to 400,000 legal immigrants (Food Stamp Participation Increases in July 2002, Washington, DC, October 2, 2002). As of December 2004, eight states provided food assistance to certain immigrants who were ineligible for federal food stamp benefits as a result of welfare reform. (See Table 2.4.)

TABLE 2.4
State-funded food programs for legal immigrants, January–March 2005
SOURCE: "State-Funded Food Programs for Legal Immigrants," Food Stamp Program, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food & Nutrition Service, December 2004, http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/rules/Memo/PRWORA/StatePrograms.htm (accessed April 6, 2005)

States	Starting date	Targeted population	Persons served (monthly estimate)*	Issuance (monthly estimate)*
California	9-1-97	Legal immigrants otherwise eligible.	21,048	$1,835,743
Nebraska	8-1-97	Legal immigrants otherwise eligible.	160	$14,013
New York	9-1-97	Immigrants legally residing in the US on 8/22/96 who are victims of domestic violence or 60–65 years of age.	0	0
Wisconsin	8-1-98	Legal immigrants otherwise eligible.	420	$30,796
Total			21,628	$1,880,552
States	Starting date	Targeted population	Served (monthly estimate)*	(Monthly estimate)*
Connecticut	4-1-98   STATE EBT	Legal immigrants otherwise eligible.	Unknown	Unknown
Maine	9-1-98   STATE EBT	Legal immigrants otherwise eligible.	Unknown	Unknown
Minnesota	9-1-97   STATE EBT	Legal immigrants otherwise eligible.	Unknown	Unknown
Washington	11-1-99   STATE EBT	Legal immigrants otherwise eligible.	Unknown	Unknown
*Estimates are based on information reported by states to USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) and are an average of the prior 3 months.

Welfare Reform Does Not Diminish Immigrant
Dependence

A March 2003 report from the Center for Immigration Studies asserted that PRWORA had failed to cut immigrants' use of welfare (Steven A. Camarota, "Back Where We Started: An Examination of Trends in Immigrant Welfare Use Since Welfare Reform," Backgrounder, Washington, DC, March 2003). The report contended that "[i]n 1996, 22% of immigrant-headed households used at least one major welfare program, compared to 15% of native households. After declining in the late 1990s, welfare use returned to 1996 levels by 2001, with 23% of immigrant households using welfare compared to 15% of native households."