Immigrant Welfare Use Varies Widely

Poor immigrants vary widely in their use of public benefits, with low-income Filipinos, Vietnamese and Cubans being relatively high users while Mexicans and Central Americans are less likely to be on welfare, according to a UCLA study released Tuesday.

In fact, the study showed, low-income Mexican and Central American immigrants are generally less likely than the poor U.S. population as a whole to receive major public benefits.

It found that 6% of poor Mexican immigrants and 4% of El Salvadorans receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a monthly federal cash benefit for aged, blind and disabled people unable to work. Forty-six percent of poor Filipinos and 44% of poor Cubans are on the SSI rolls. In the nation as a whole, 13% of all poor people receive SSI checks.

However, the study does not examine the potentially disproportionate impact on public benefits of the nation’s almost 7 million Mexican immigrants, who are by far the largest immigrant group--outnumbering the next group, Filipinos, by almost 6 to 1. Natives of Mexico account for 28% of the nation’s foreign-born population. And 35% of Mexican immigrants live in poverty--more than double the rate of 14% for all U.S. residents.

Consequently, even a relatively small percentage of Mexican immigrants receiving benefits can cost far more than a much higher proportion of immigrants from another group.

Still, David E. Hayes-Bautista, principal author of the study, said his work should serve to challenge popular misconceptions.

“We can’t speak of immigrants as a monolithic, homogenous group in terms of these programs,” said Hayes-Bautista, head of the Center for the Study of Latino Health at the UCLA School of Medicine.

Reasons for the wide variation are myriad, but experts said factors such as age and immigration status play a major part. Both the Mexican and Central American communities include huge numbers of illegal immigrants and others with provisional legal statuses that render them ineligible for most major benefit programs.

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The relatively high usage among Vietnamese and Cubans may be linked to the fact that many entered the country as refugees, a status that allowed them immediate access to a range of aid programs.

Cubans living in poverty were the mostly likely immigrant group to receive food stamps, followed by Vietnamese and people from the Dominican Republic, who are concentrated in New York.

The new study comes as federal and state authorities move to curb benefits for non-citizens under the terms of last year’s sweeping overhaul of welfare law. Many lawmakers and others have stated that immigrants should come here to work and not be on the public dole.

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While not disputing the report’s findings, critics said it was misleading. The rate of poverty among new Mexican and Central American immigrants is so high that their overall use of public aid--including public education and other services not measured in the study--is considerable.

“The vast majority of people coming here from Mexico and Central America are poor and undereducated and unskilled and have a tough time finding anything other than entry-level jobs or working for pay under the counter,” said Bill King, a former U.S. Border Patrol chief who is now vice president of Americans for Responsible Immigration, a group that favors restrictions on immigration.

The UCLA researchers used data compiled from the Census Bureau’s detailed report, released this spring, on the nation’s fast-growing foreign-born population. No state breakdowns are included, but California is home to about one-third of the nation’s immigrants.

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Overall, census reports showed that immigrants are substantially more likely to be on welfare rolls than U.S. natives. About 5.8% of the nation’s foreign-born population received one major cash benefit in 1996, the census bureau found, compared with 4.5% of U.S. natives. The census bureau also found much greater poverty rates among immigrants--22.2% of the foreign-born lived in poverty, compared with 12.9% of U.S. natives. However, the census-takers concluded that immigrants tend to move out of poverty over time. Immigrants who arrived before 1970 are less likely to be poor than the U.S. born.

The UCLA study focused strictly on immigrants living below the poverty line.

Mexican and Central American immigrants tend to be among the youngest groups and are thus often ineligible for SSI and other programs targeting the elderly.

By contrast, older immigrant groups are less likely to have young children and thus typically do not receive Aid to Families With Dependent Children, long the principal federal welfare outlay for poor families.