GROUP: IMMIGRANTS MISSING AID BENEFITS
[CHICAGOLAND FINAL Edition]
Pamela J Appea,
Washington Bureau.
Chicago Tribune
Chicago, Ill.:Mar 11, 1999. p. 11
Subjects:
Welfare reform, Aliens, Federal legislation
Author(s):
Pamela J Appea, Washington Bureau
Article types:
News
Dateline:
WASHINGTON
Section:
NEWS
Publication title:
Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Ill.: Mar 11, 1999. pg. 11
Source Type:
Newspaper
ISSN/ISBN:
10856706
ProQuest document ID:
39636023
Text Word Count
303
Article URL:
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?RQT=309&VInst=PROD&VName=PQD&VType=PQD&Fmt=3&did=000000039636023&clientId=9269
Abstract (Article Summary)
The 1996 welfare reform law imposed restrictions on access to welfare by legal immigrants and refugees. But the authors of the report, Urban Institute researchers Michael Fix and Jeffrey Passel, said the decline in welfare use by non-citizens and refugees was due more to the "chilling effect" of recent policy changes than to shifts in eligibility due to welfare reform.
Full Text (303 words)
(Copyright 1999 by the Chicago Tribune)
Welfare reform has caused "confusion and fear" among immigrants, reducing their use of public aid for which they were eligible, a new study says.
Immigrant households' use of public benefits sharply decreased in comparison with non-immigrant households from 1994 to 1997, according to an analysis of census data by the non-partisan Urban Institute, which released the study Tuesday.
The 1996 welfare reform law imposed restrictions on access to welfare by legal immigrants and refugees. But the authors of the report, Urban Institute researchers Michael Fix and Jeffrey Passel, said the decline in welfare use by non-citizens and refugees was due more to the "chilling effect" of recent policy changes than to shifts in eligibility due to welfare reform.
"Welfare reform seems to be playing a significant role in discouraging immigrants from using health, nutrition or other benefits despite the fact that most immigrants remain eligible," Fix said. "It appears that these chilling effects originate in confusion and fear among immigrants and lack of understanding on the part of providers over who is eligible for benefits."
The release of the study comes as the Clinton administration prepares to defend budget requests to further extend health, nutrition and cash benefits to the most vulnerable legal immigrants, in particular children, pregnant women and disabled people who recently entered the U.S.
The study found that, from 1994 to 1997, welfare use by non- citizen households fell by 35 percent while citizen households' use of public benefits declined by 15 percent. The report also found a similar drop in non-citizens' use of Medicaid and food stamps.
However, rates of welfare use by non-citizen households remained higher than that of citizens both before and after passage of the 1996 welfare reform law--in large part because non-citizen households are more likely to include children and be poor, the report said.
