Far Fewer Immigrants Seeking Welfare

A steep drop in the number of immigrants seeking public aid in Los Angeles County has sent welfare applications plunging 23%, a new federal study shows.

The study, commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and obtained by The Times, found that since 1996, thousands of poor, legal immigrants have decided to eschew government assistance, although in California the vast majority remain eligible for a variety of welfare programs.

In contrast, researchers at the Washington-based Urban Institute, which conducted the study for the federal government, said that in the two-year period of the survey, welfare applications from U.S. citizens remained constant.

Completed last week, the study provides the first documentation of the effect of welfare reform on immigrant families, and suggests that a main reason they shy away is fear of a negative effect on their immigration status.

In January 1996, 21% of all families applying for welfare in Los Angeles County were legal noncitizens, the study said, but by January of this year that number had dwindled to 8%, underscoring what advocates say is the fear and misinformation affecting immigrant communities.

At the beginning of the study, poor noncitizen families were applying for aid in Los Angeles County at a rate of about 1,500 a month. By the end of the survey, the number had fallen to 450 a month.

“We were surprised by this outcome,” said Judy Weddle, director of strategic planning for the county Department of Public Social Services. “We had an indication that there has been some confusion in the immigrant community, but obviously this is a very significant number.”

Also surprising, the researchers said, was the comparison with undocumented immigrants who applied for welfare for their children. There was a drop in their number, but it was not nearly as large as that for legal immigrants. Although undocumented immigrants are not eligible for aid, any of their children born in the United States are citizens and therefore entitled to government benefits.

“One of the most far-reaching effects of welfare reform to date in Los Angeles County has got to be this decline in applications among [legal] noncitizens,” said Michael Fix, one of the authors of the report. “It appears that one of the legacies of this period of welfare reform is . . . the chilling effect it has on legal immigrants’ willingness to apply for and receive public benefits.”

He said the researchers concluded that misconceptions about welfare reform and mistaken fears that accepting public benefits could affect immigration status may have been key factors.

A spokesman for Gov. Pete Wilson, who was a strong advocate for welfare reform, said the study shows that the governor’s efforts to discourage welfare are working.

“When you put restrictions on welfare, take away the entitlement and put in hard time limits, then you take away the incentive to use welfare as the avenue of first resort,” said spokesman Sean Walsh. “The message is getting out: ‘Don’t bring your family over here and go right to public assistance.’ ”

Federal officials said the study is the first piece in a multiyear report on the overall health and economic status of immigrants in Los Angeles County and New York City.

Michael Kharfen, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said the two urban areas were selected for close examination because they have huge numbers of noncitizens and highly varied immigrant populations.

The initial report, which focused exclusively on Los Angeles County because it had the most readily available data, examined immigrant applications for three public assistance programs: Medi-Cal, which provides medical care for the poor; CalWorks, which assists poor families with children; and General Relief, which provides cash aid for poor adults.

It covered January 1996 to January 1998, a period during which welfare reform was debated, passed by Congress and ultimately implemented by the state and county.

Although acknowledging that the numbers are much bigger than they expected, advocacy groups said the study confirms what they have observed for months.

Karin Wang, director of the Immigrant Welfare Project at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, said the combination of confusing information about welfare reform and a perceived anti-immigrant sentiment prompted many families to avoid seeking any kind of public assistance.

“We’re talking about eligible children not getting health care because their parents are afraid,” she said. “Parents have been scared so much by all this talk about deportation, about new rules for naturalization, that they’re not willing to risk coming forward.”

She criticized the county for being too slow to train welfare workers in the complexities of the new laws, especially as they relate to immigrants.

She said many noncitizen families were turned away at welfare offices by workers who mistakenly believed that their immigration status made them ineligible for assistance.

But county officials insisted that they have taken steps to correct misconceptions, including establishing a help line that immigrants can call for information about welfare and putting special liaison staff in welfare offices to help with immigrant issues.

“Certainly I would not agree that we have been slow,” said Jacob Aguilar, who is in charge of community relations for the social services department. “On the other hand, this study shows we need to continue to work in this area.”

Julia Takeda, director of the Child Medi-Cal enrollment project for the department, said immigrants will be a major focus of a county campaign to enroll 100,000 poor children in Medi-Cal by September 1999.