Immigrants Found More Likely to Feel Brunt of Welfare Reform

The use of public benefits has declined more sharply among immigrants than U.S. citizens, largely because welfare reform legislation has had “chilling effects” on many noncitizens who were actually eligible to apply for such assistance, according to a study.

In an analysis of Census Bureau survey data, Urban Institute researchers Michael Fix and Jeffrey S. Passel concluded that “noncitizens accounted for a disproportionately large share of the overall decline in welfare caseloads that occurred between 1994 and 1997.” The use of cash welfare benefits by noncitizen households fell 35% during that period, compared with a 15% decline among citizen households, they said. The same patterns held true for food stamps and Medicaid.

The 1996 law imposed restrictions on legal immigrants’ access to welfare, set time limits for the eligibility of refugees and placed bars on access to services by “unqualified immigrants.” The study said the law’s “chilling effects” on applicants might have been more consequential by discouraging “immigrants from using health, nutrition or other types of benefits, despite the fact that many remain eligible.” The study attributed these effects in part to confusion among immigrants and providers about who remains eligible and to fears that receiving welfare could lead to deportation or other penalties under laws intended to bar immigrants from becoming “public charges.”

Fix said this may have been one of the factors behind an earlier finding of a 71% drop in noncitizens’ welfare use in Los Angeles.