Do illegal immigrants in the US get welfare?

[raccoon]

I'm asking. I don't think that's true. But I'd like to hear from some folks who work in social services.

[moc]

1. You need to specify your definition of "welfare".

TANF - temporary aid for needy families - which is cash? No

Food stamps? No

Medicaid - health insurance for the poor? No

WIC - supplemental feeding program for women, infants, and children? No

However, many illegal immigrants do receive health care through emergency rooms at public hospitals such as Parkland hospital here in Dallas.

[raccoon]

2. I was thinking TANF, but thanks for the info you gave. nt

[0007]

5. Yes!! to all of the above if they can fool the system

[kikiek]

3. Here is a link that is informative..

Although immigrants receive less assistance from the federal government, the average immigrant family pays more in taxes than the average American-born family. The SIE reported in 1976 that the average American-born family paid $3,008 in taxes per year. In comparison, immigrant families who had been in the United States 10 years or less paid $3,369. Those living here 11 to15 years paid $3,564 and those here 16 to 25 years paid $3,592. Also, a 1996 Heritage Foundation study reported that immigrant men had a slightly higher labor force participation rate than American-born men (77 percent vs. 74 percent), so a larger proportion paid employment-related taxes. Among the largest group of recent immigrants - Hispanics - the proportion of men who work was 83 percent.

All numbers mentioned above are for legal immigrants. However, the available numbers for illegal immigrants, while spotty, do not show a negative economic effect. A 1995 Cato Institute study found that illegal immigrants paid approximately 46 percent as much in taxes as American-born citizens, but they received only 38 percent as much from the government. Also, contrary to popular belief, the majority of illegal immigrants were not destitute fence-jumpers but were middle-class tourists or students who overstayed their visas. http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba400/ The most recent data was 1976 for some of it. You would have to read it.

[ultraist]

11. That article is referring to legal immigrants

"Illegal" immigrants do not qualify for assistance and as that article points out, many legal immigrants don't. In most circumstances, they have to have lived here at least five years.

http://www.ncsl.org/programs/immig/TANFIB.htm

Prior to welfare reform, most legal immigrant families were eligible for Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) as long as they met the income and resource requirements applied to citizens. Income eligibility levels and benefit levels were set by each state.

The 1996 federal welfare reform law, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (P.L. 104-193), replaces AFDC with the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program. All immigrants are barred from TANF for their first five years in the country unless they become citizens, can demonstrate 40 qualifying quarters of work in the U.S., or meet the five year or military exemptions

[kikiek]

12. It is both if you read down. There is less data on illegal.

[raccoon]

13. Thanks for the link. nt

[Maru Kitteh]

4. I was once family to some "undocumented residents" who were drawing

all kinds of H.H.S. money and benefits. I don't know how they did it and I didn't ask but it didn't appear to be too much of a struggle for them to get it. I was always amazed - you would have thought walking right into government buildings when you're not in the country legally would have been a little scary but they were just fine with it.

[MoJoWorkin]

6. some may get refugee status and receive certain aid

I have been out of that working arena for a few years--retired DFS worker, and I don't know current law

[Bridget Burke]

7. Why didn't you ask?

Were they aware of the contempt you felt for them?

[Maru Kitteh]

17. I didn't ask because after some (little) time it became obvious

you just didn't do that. I still break bread with, celebrate holidays with, share my life with, watch the children of other members of the same family. We share struggles and help each other.

Now you tell me of your own prejudices. Please.

The poster asked a question, I responded with fact. What is your agenda.......... Bridget?

[papau]

8. Old GOP rule - a lie is not a lie until caught AND the media notices

In this case those folks just said they were legal - and Welfare offices do not have the money to do INS investigations and enforcement.

[daydreamer]

9. That can't be true

Someone in that family must be legal resident.

We spend $1 billion a week on Iraq and freepers don't even blink. But they don't even want to save the human beings who are dying in front of eyes (in our emergency rooms). What an outrage!

[Maru Kitteh]

18. I should qualify by saying that this situation was fact in 1988.

I have no idea how much things have changed since then.

But you are right about the f'n freepers. I would rather spend BILLIONS of dollars a month on health-care and education for EVERYONE - documented or not - than the travesty occurring in our name now.

[Balbus]

10. Yes, some do.

But there are plenty more that are working and paying taxes that they will never receive the benefit from, also.

[Child_Of_Isis]

14. They should.

It's not like they get paid a decent wage. What does Wal Mart pay them these days? 2 or 3 dollars ? The fat cats on the hill get more welfare and do a helluva lot less work.

[Maru Kitteh]

19. It's the MEAT packers and farmers ripping them off- not WAL*MART

I hate wally as much as the next person but lets be clear - undocumented workers are in most danger in the dead flesh industry.

Second only to the dead animal industry is the migrant picking industry in exploitation, followed closely by the big hotel/motel industry.

They should all rot in hell for preying on these peoples dreams.

[earth mom]

15. As long as you have a social security number.... nt

[radwriter0555]

16. Here is the page for california and citizenship is in the list of

requirements...

Specific eligibility requirements take into account an applicant's citizenship, age, income, resources, assets and other factors. Generally, services are available to:

Families that have a child(ren) in the home who has been deprived of parental support or care because of the absence, disability or death of either parent.
Families with a child(ren) when both parents are in the home but the principal earner is unemployed.
Needy caretaker relatives of a foster child(ren).

http://www.dss.cahwnet.gov/cdssweb/california_169.htm

But hey, google is your friend...

Living on welfare in the US isn't any better than living on welfare in Mexico. In fact, it's better in Mexico because the cost of living is much less.

[Sgent]

20. Depends

If the children are US Citizens (were born here) it is certainly possible they would recieve TANF, Medicaid, Food Stamps, WIC, etc.

The mother's may not be eligible, but most federal guidelines for welfare are based on children. For instance, in many states men and non-pregnant women cannot get Medicaid regardless of income -- anything more generous is up to the state.

So at least the children will recieve many of these benefits if US Citizens, and the parents, as the children's gaurdians, will be the ones to access the benefits in question.

[Macman44]

21. Yes

they do. I work on the border and I apprehend illegal immigrants daily. All have some form of WIC, meals on wheels or some local government subsidy on their persons. Most also have an SSN card on them either in their name or under an assumed identity which we prosecute. They have their documents on them since living here in the US in the past, they went to Mexico for a visit and now they are returning to take up their illegal residence and employment. All illegala who are apprehended get run through IAFIS which links to the FBI and many have been previously deported either because they have a criminal record or for having lived here illegally in the past.

[tkmorris]

23. How exactly do they ACQUIRE those items?

I also have experience with illegal immigrants. I have never, not once, met one with a social security card. I have met a few who "made up" a social security number because in a select few circumstances an employer wants a number even though all pay is under the table, thus the number never gets exposed as fraudulent. But have a card? Nope. Nor a license, nor WIC, nor anything else.

Is it possible to acquire such items? You bet. I could do so myself, but it would cost precious funds to do so. It is usually not worth it unless one needs to falsify an identity so badly that spending the bucks is acceptable. Illegals don't bother with such things. Mostly they just try to stay under the radar and work for cash whenever they can.

[Laughing Mirror]

24. "All have some form of ... meals on wheels ... on their persons"

I was always under the impression that people that manage to make it over the border travel much more lightly, just the clothes on their backs for mobility in most cases. But Meals on Wheels "on their persons"? Well that blows that myth.

Also, I thought Meals on Wheels was for old people. I didn't realize so many old Mexicans and scads of elderly welfare cheaters from other Latin countries were sneaking in through our porous borders. The information in your post blows yet another myth.

Thank you so much MacMan for your valuable contribution to American society by prosecuting these illegal criminals. We need more like you in the social services. By the way, I didn't catch what branch of social services you work in. The Minutemen, I would guess.

[leftofthedial]

22. yes. and they drive Cadillacs, wear furs and Gucci shoes

and use food stamps to buy malt liquor

(or so I'm told daily on RW talk radio)

[Telly Savalas]

25. RW talk radio?

There are enough racist assholes around DU promoting such lies that you don't really need RW talk radio.

(Edited for grammar.)