Half of Immigrant Households Use US Welfare Programs

For the purposes of this study, called the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), welfare programs included Medicaid, cash, food and housing programs. All data points include both legal and illegal immigrants.

Here are other data points from a report by Steven Camarota, director of research at the nonpartisan, nonprofit Center for Immigration Studies:

• Welfare use is high for both new arrivals and well-established immigrants. Of households headed by immigrants who have been in the country for more than two decades, 48 percent access welfare.
• No single program explains immigrants’ higher overall welfare use.
• Immigrant households have much higher use of food programs (40 percent vs. 22 percent for natives) and Medicaid (42 percent vs. 23 percent). Immigrant use of cash programs is somewhat higher than natives (12 percent vs. 10 percent) and use of housing programs is similar to natives.
• Welfare use varies among immigrant groups. Households headed by immigrants from Central America and Mexico (73 percent), the Caribbean (51 percent), and Africa (48 percent) have the highest overall welfare use. Those from East Asia (32 percent), Europe (26 percent), and South Asia (17 percent) have the lowest.
• In 2012, 76 percent of households headed by an immigrant who had not graduated high school used one or more welfare programs, as did 63 percent of households headed by an immigrant with only a high school education.

Camarota’s full report is available here.

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