A new study finds immigrant (legal and illegal) households use welfare at significantly higher rates than native households — 51% for the aliens compared to 30% for Americans. The study by the Center for Immigration Studies is the first in recent years to use the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) which gives the most accurate picture of welfare use. Welfare includes Medicaid, cash, food, and housing programs.
The 53-page report is filled with important facts exploding the fiction that mass immigration is a benefit to America. Laws long on the books, and more recent ones, that are supposed to exclude aliens who will “become a public charge” and exclude immigrants from various welfare programs, clearly do not work, are not enforced, or have huge loopholes.
Some of the other findings:
* Welfare use is high for both new arrivals and long-time residents.
* Immigrants are very high users of food programs and Medicaid.
* Immigrants from Mexico and Central America (73%), the Caribbean (51%), and Africa (48%) have the highest welfare use.
* While the large share of low-education, low income immigrants partly explains their high welfare use, even households headed by college-educated immigrants have higher welfare use than college-educated natives — 26% vs. 13%.
* Benefits given to immigrants (legal and illegal) on behalf of anchor baby U.S. citizens is a major (and very expensive) factor in avoiding limits placed on welfare for immigrants.
The complete study: http://cis.org/Welfare-Use-Immigrant-Native-Households
Posted 9/2/15 by Andrew Lewis