-Caveat Lector-
Uncontrolled immigration actually is Corporate Welfare.
Importing huge numbers of unskilled workers act as
a subsidy to corporate employers of cheap immigrant
workers while taxpayers pay huge costs in welfare,
medicaid and school taxes.
flw
Employment Extra
March 18, 2003
Immigrant use of welfare increases
By Stephen Dinan
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Immigrants' use of welfare, which was supposed to be cut by 1996
welfare and immigration reform laws, has grown back to levels of that year,
according to a new report by the Center for Immigration Studies. Top Stories
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"You can't cut immigrants off of welfare. That's what the '96 law
shows," said Steven A. Camarota, director of research at the center. "You're
either going to have to accept the fact that they're using a lot more
programs, or you're going to have to change immigration policy. There's no
middle ground."
In 1996, 21.9 percent of households led by immigrants used at least one
major welfare program. That fell to 19.7 percent in 1999, but by 2001 it had
climbed back to 22.7 percent.
And in 1996 immigrants accounted for 14.2 percent of households using
welfare, and in 2001 they were 17.9 percent of the total.
What those numbers mean, Mr. Camarota said, is that it's impossible to
cut down immigrants' use of welfare.
They found ways around it, some states began to fund benefits on their
own and the federal government retreated on several of the cuts, he said.
In the report "Back Where We Started?" the center looked at Census
Bureau data for four major welfare programs: Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF), Supplementary Security Income (SSI), food stamps and
Medicaid.
The 1996 changes cut in half the percentage of immigrants using TANF
and food stamps, while use of SSI has fallen slightly. But immigrant
households' use of Medicare went up 1.3 percent, to 21.8 percent of
households.
The average payments to families for TANF and food stamps also
decreased substantially � in the case of TANF, falling by two-thirds. But
that was offset by increases in Medicaid payments, which have the largest
average payment. The average payments to immigrant families have gone up by
24 percent since 1996, from $1,203 to $1,492.
Until 1996 legal immigrants were eligible for welfare based on mostly
the same qualifications as U.S. citizens. But the 1996 welfare reform law
changed that, making citizenship a test and adding residency requirements
and other restrictions to determine legal residents' eligibility.
But in 1997 Congress grandfathered in many immigrants receiving SSI,
and has since restored food-stamp benefits for many legal immigrants as
well.
More than 3 million immigrant families used a welfare program in 2001.
About 2.4 million of those were led by legal immigrants, and 663,000 of were
led by illegal immigrants. Taken together, 22.7 percent of immigrant
families used a welfare program, while 15 percent of native-led families
did.
Among illegal-immigrant households, most of them had citizen or
legal-resident children who were enrolled in Medicaid, the state-run
medical-coverage program.
Mr. Camarota said his research showed that it's not a matter of
immigrants being unwilling to work. In 2001, almost 80 percent of
immigrant-led households on welfare had at least one person working.
But education level is a key indicator of whether immigrant households
will use welfare, Mr. Camarota said.
He said 42 percent of households led by immigrants who dropped out of
high school use welfare, while that's true of 10 percent of immigrant
households led by someone with a college education.
"The idea you can bring unskilled people into the country and not
impose huge costs on taxpayers is a fallacy. It's a kind of libertarian
fantasy," Mr. Camarota said.
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