Eligibility for Government Services
| Author | Jeffrey Wilson |
| Pages | 959-965 |
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For many immigrants, the United States has seemed like a land of bountiful wealth. Traditionally, it has been generous with that wealth, at least in respect to legal immigrants. The Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that resident aliens are entitled to the same constitutional protections as normal citizens. Resident aliens have been entitled in the past to participate in federal welfare programs on an equal basis with U.S. citizens.
But in 1996, with the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), also known as the welfare reform bill, conditions changed dramatically for legal immigrants. As of 2002, legal immigrants face a patchwork of laws in the various states that may or may not give them the right to benefit from various public assistance programs.
By contrast, illegal immigrants are banned from any sort of public assistance under PRWORA, including the very limited services that some states may have chosen to provide them before the act was passed. States giving out public benefits must now verify that immigrants are legal before they receive such benefits. In addition, state and local governments may not restrict their employees from reporting any immigrants to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, providing a further disincentive to illegal immigrants in trying to receive benefits. But for legal immigrants, trying to sort out the maze of public benefit regulations has become much more difficult since welfare reform.
The first social welfare programs, such as Social Security, made no distinctions at all between citizens and resident aliens. Legal aliens were allowed to participate in that program, and other programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Aid to Dependant Children on an equal basis with U.S. citizens.
As immigrants began to arrive in this country during the 1980s and 1990s at levels unseen since the turn of the century, however, concern began to focus on how the new arrivals were straining the net of social welfare programs. In 1994, California passed Proposition 187, which eliminated all public assis-
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tance for illegal immigrants and banned the children of illegal immigrants from public schools in the state, requiring that such children be reported. It also required state facilities to refuse health care treatment for illegal immigrants. Passage of this law was considered a sign of the public's increasing intolerance of the effects of immigration.
In 1996, after much debate, Congress passed the PRWORA. An important result of this law was that states were no longer required to provide most forms of public benefits to legal immigrants. Subsequent legislation softened some of the laws concerning treatment of legal immigrants in areas such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits and food stamps. But the ability of legal immigrants to receive public assistance has clearly changed after passage of the PRWORA
Previous to the PRWORA, the federal government set most of the eligibility requirements for federal welfare programs. The PRWORA allowed states to set the requirements for many of these programs. This was particularly true for immigrants. States were allowed to decide whether immigrants could participate in programs such as Medicaid and the newly formed Temporary Assistance For Needy Families, which replaced the Aid to Families with Dependant Children.
As a result of the PRWORA, different states treat immigrants in different ways. Some states are generous with the benefits they provide to immigrants; others are not. What legal immigrants can receive depends on where they reside.
Under the PRWORA, legal immigrants are treated differently than illegal immigrants and also differently than citizens. The restrictions on the benefit rights for legal immigrants have proven to be the most controversial aspects of the PRWORA, and several provisions have been reworked since it was passed in 1996. But the PRWORA still places restrictions on legal immigrants' access to the same benefits as normal citizens.
Although the PRWORA cuts off legal immigrants from access to means tested programs involving federal funds, states are still allowed to set up their own programs using their own funds to cover immigrants who were cut off by the PRWORA. Many states have decided to do just that, so what kind of benefits immigrants are actually eligible for is determined by what state they reside in.
Among the changes wrought by the PRWORA was the replacement of the Aid to Families with Dependant Children (AFDC) program with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). One of the chief effects of this change for immigrants was to put the states in charge of administering the program. Regarding immigrants who arrived before the PRWORA became law—August 22, 1996—states have the options of allowing them to continue to collect benefits.
Immigrants who arrived after August 22, 1996 are banned from receiving any sort of TANF benefits for five years after arrival. After five years, states have the option to bar immigrants from receiving benefits until citizenship. The bar not only applies to grants under TANF but also to any means-tested benefit or service provided with TANF funds, including job training and work support.
For SSI, immigrants who resided in the United States as of August 22, 1996 are still eligible for benefits, either if they are already receiving them or if they become disabled. Immigrants residing in the United States as of August 22, 1996 who turn 65 but are not disabled are not eligible for benefits. Originally, the PRWORA cut off SSI benefits for all legal immigrants, but they were restored for the above categories by the 1998 budget reconciliation law.
As with TANF, immigrants who arrive in the United States after August 22, 1996 are barred from all SSI benefits for a term of five years. After the five-year bar, immigrants may qualify for SSI.
Legal immigrants lost their eligibility for food stamps under the PRWORA. Unlike with SSI, eligibility for food stamps has not been restored across the board. In 1998, eligibility for food stamps was restored for children of immigrants, for disabled immigrants, and for immigrants over 65 years of age. All other immigrants, including those who entered before August 22, 1996, must be credited with 40 quarters (10 years) worth of work or become U.S. citizens before they can qualify again for food stamps.
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