One of the groups most hard-hit by the welfare reform bill signed in 1996 by then-president Clinton is immigrants. The welfare reform bill not only tightened restrictions for all persons eligible for public benefits, it barred many otherwise eligible immigrants from receiving benefits at all. Additionally, the rules of eligibility for immigrants are so confusing that many families who are still entitled to receive benefits have not applied for them. And one of the hardest hit groups of all has been children.
The restrictions are not aimed just at undocumented (illegal) immigrants or at temporary workers and students, who might be accused of coming to the U.S. just to obtain public benefits here. Rather, they have targeted lawful, tax-paying permanent residents and refugees and asylees.
When welfare reform was originally passed in 1996, non-citizens were cut off completely from food stamps and from Social Security (SSI) benefits for the elderly and disabled. Subsequently, SSI benefits and food stamps were restored to refugees, veterans, and certain working immigrants who were present in the U.S. before passage of welfare reform, and food stamps were additionally restored to elderly and disabled immigrants and to children, again limited to those who were present before passage of welfare reform. However, this restoration was only for seven years - a period that will run out in October 2003.
Immigrants who arrived or were granted status after passage of welfare reform in 1996 are barred for five years from receiving any public benefits, except for refugees and veterans. They must then show that they have a sponsor who can help support them, except for victims of domestic violence, certain working immigrants, and those who have become citizens.
Confused about who's eligible for what? So are immigrants. Even though most immigrants present before 1996 remain eligible for public benefits such as Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF; the main welfare program) and Medicaid, immigrant use of these programs has plummeted, TANF by 60%. Many immigrants do not realize they are still eligible.
Addtionally, many immigrant families are mixed status. The main way of becoming a permanent resident is to marry a U.S. citizen or permanent resident so many families include both citizens and permanent residents. Furthermore, any child born in the United States is a citizen, whatever the status of his or her parents. It is these children who have been hardest hit. As citizens, their eligibility for public benefits was not affected by welfare reform, but if their parents became ineligible or thought that they were ineligible, the children may not be receiving any benefits.
So this is the legacy of Clinton's welfare reform. Elderly and disabled immigrants stripped of their social security benefits and now about to lose their food stamps. Victims of domestic violence forced to wait five years to receive benefits if they choose to leave the spouses who abuse them. Families afraid to claim benefits for their children that the children are entitled to. A cruel legacy indeed for society's most vulnerable members.
Further reading:
-Not Getting What They Paid For from the American Immigration Law Foundation
-Public Assistance for Immigrant Clients, a chart of eligibility
-How Are Immigrants Faring After Welfare Reform?, facts and figures from the Urban Institute