NEW WELFARE LAW TO HIT LEGAL IMMIGRANTS HARD While most of us were enjoying the Summer Olympics, Congress was busy. Those who complain that Congress never gets anything done certainly were surprised when Congress passed (and the President promised to sign) the most sweeping welfare bill since Lyndon Johnson's presidency. Whether one agrees or not with the concept of reforming the welfare system, it has become clear that the Welfare Reform Reconciliation Act of 1996 will have a dramatic effect on immigrant communities across the US. 44% of the budget cuts in the welfare bill stem from eliminating access to need-based government programs for legal immigrants and refugees (illegal immigrants are already barred from most forms of welfare). This is especially harsh since those immigrants represent only 5% of all welfare recipients. Persons who came in as refugees will fare slightly better than those that entered as immigrants. The immediate impact of the bill will no doubt be that many legal immigrants and refugees will face serious economic problems. The other impact will likely be a surge in the number of applications for citizenship which will, in turn, likely lead to even longer backlogs in the naturalization application process. The following is a summary of provisions in the bill that affect legal immigrants and refugees. Food Stamps and Supplemental Security Income ("SSI") - Most immigrants will be barred from receiving Food Stamps or SSI (including those qualifying for Medicaid through SSI). As a result, 500,000 people are expected to lose their SSI benefits and 900,000 will lose Food Stamps. About half of the legal immigrants who lose SSI will have been in the US for more than ten years when their checks stop arriving.
- Refugees and asylees are exempted from the SSI and Food Stamp bar, but only for their first five years in the US.
- Persons who have worked for ten years and not received benefits will still be eligible for SSI and Food Stamps.
Future Immigrants - Future immigrants will not only be ineligible to receive SSI and Food Stamps, they will also be barred from all "federal means-tested" programs for their first five years in the US. "Federal means-tested" has not been defined, but will certainly include all non-exempt entitlement programs that determine eligibility based on income or resources. Medicaid is the major program that will fall into this category.
- Refugees will not be affected by this provision.
- Exempt programs include the following:
- emergency Medicaid
- immunization and testing of symptoms of communicable diseases whether or not the symptoms are caused by a communicable disease (however, Medicaid may not be used for such testing or treatment);
- short-term, non-cash emergency relief
- child nutrition, including the WIC program and school meals
- foster care and adoption assistance payments
- higher education loans and grants
- elementary and secondary education
- Head Start
- Job Training Partnership Act
- certain non-cash programs such as soup kitchens
State Control of AFDC and Medicaid - Each state will have the option to determine whether legal immigrants will have access to Aid to Families with Dependent Children ("AFDC"), Medicaid and various programs which use social service block grant money.
- Those subject to the five year bar will not be allowed access to these programs until their bar period is over.
- States can also bar legal immigrants from programs funded entirely by state funds.
- Those remaining eligible for SSI and Food Stamps, such as refugees in their first five years in the US, will not be affected by these provisions.
"Deeming" of Sponsors - Most persons will effectively be barred from eligibility for "federal means-tested" programs after the 5 year bar ends due to a new provision which adds the incomes of the immigrant's sponsors to the immigrant's income for purposes of determining need-based eligibility for government programs. For example, if a sponsoring relative earns a poverty-level income and the immigrant earns a poverty-level income, the two incomes will be combined to show the immigrant earns twice the poverty income.
- This provision will only affect immigrants entering in the future.
- The law is not clear on whether states may waive the deeming requirements when determining eligibility for AFDC and SSI.
Sponsoring Future Immigrants The new law's Affidavit of Support provisions will severely limit the ability of many to immigrate. Only the petitioning relative (limited generally to US citizen and permanent resident parents, children, spouses and US citizen siblings) may sign an Affidavit of Support for a would-be immigrant. The Affidavit of Support must show enough income to keep the immigrant and all members of the sponsor's household above the poverty line. Incomes of other relatives including grandparents, grandchildren, uncles, step-parents, cousins or siblings (other than a sponsoring sibling) will not be considered even if the relative is willing to sign a legally-enforceable Affidavit of Support. President Clinton has promised to push for legislation to reverse many of these provisions. He also promises to use his power to issue Executive Orders to also lessen the impact of the bill. < Back | Next > Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided as a public service and not intended to establish an attorney client relationship. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk. | 
