Resources
Resources| Vol. 6, No. 9 June 2002 |
Welfare reform provisions enacted in 1996 made
many legal immigrants ineligible for social services such as Medicaid, Food
stamps, SSI and TANF cash assistance. Studies
show that welfare participation rates for immigrants sharply declined after
welfare reform was enacted in 1996, and poverty among immigrant families remains
high. Some states have developed
state only programs to respond to some of these needs. Just recently, with the passing of the Farm Bill, food stamps
have been reinstated to legal immigrants who have resided in the U.S. at least 5
years (this reinstatement will go into effect in 2003).
While the Farm Bill legislation will restore some food stamp benefits
many legal immigrant families remain ineligible for federal benefits.
Even when benefits are available, language and other barriers, discourage
the use of services. Such barriers
and a lack of information may also discourage immigrants from seeking services
for their eligible citizen children.
This Resources for Welfare Decisions provides an overview of recent research regarding the status and needs of legal immigrants, identifies organizations that can help in constructing programs to serve legal immigrants, and highlights some promising practices at the state and local level. See also http://www.welfareinfo.org/immigrant.asp.
Publications and Electronic Resources
Borjas, George J. The Impact of Welfare Reform
on Immigrant Welfare Use. (Washington, DC.: Center for Immigration Studies),
2002. Available at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2002/borjas.htm.
Checklist
of Federal Benefit Programs Available to Documented and Undocumented Workers.
Working for America Institute. This
site provides a detailed list of federal programs ranging from Unemployment
Insurance to WIC (Women, Infants and Children).
This resource also provides a breakdown of eligibility for documented and
undocumented workers. Available at:
http://www.workingforamerica.org/documents/checklist.asp.
The
Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, Immigrant
Access provides information for immigrants on health, domestic violence,
Limited English Proficiency (LEP) and citizenship issues. Available at: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/immigration/.
Fix, Michael and Ron Haskins. Welfare Benefits
for Non-Citizens. (Washington, DC.:
The Brookings Institute), 2002. Available at: http://www.brookings.edu/dybdocroot/wrb/publications/pb/pb15.pdf.
Fremstad, Shawn. Immigrants and Welfare
Reauthorization. (Washington, DC.: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities),
2002. Available at: http://www.cbpp.org/1-22-02tanf4.htm.
Golonka, Susan. Enhancing Employment
Opportunities for Individuals with Limited English Proficiency and Cultural
Barriers. (Washington, DC.: National Governors’ Association), 2000.
Available at: http://www.nga.org/center/divisions/1,1188,C_ISSUE_BRIEF^D_1763,00.html.
Hernandez, Donald. Lack of Appropriate Research
Leads to Gaps in Knowledge about Children in Immigrant Families. (New York, NY.:
The Research Forum on Children, Families and the New Federalism), 2002.
Available at: http://www.researchforum.org/newsletter/forum51.pdf.
The State and Local Coalition on Immigration/The Immigrant Policy Project, a collaborative effort of the National Governors Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Association of Counties, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities, and the American Public Human Services Association, examines the roles that state and local governments play in the development of immigrant policy, produces publications and provides research reports around immigrant policies.
National Council of La Raza
Schlosberg, Claudia. Immigrant Access to Health
Benefits: A Resource Manual. (Boston,
MA.: The Access Project), 2000. Available
at: http://www.accessproject.org/downloads/Immigrant_Access.pdf.
Urban Institute
Resource Contacts
What States and Localities are Doing
States have a great deal of flexibility in
establishing and determining eligibility of immigrants with respect to state
funded programs. In many cases,
states are making determination decisions on the best ways to provide
replacement funds for loss of benefits such as SSI and TANF. Federal legislation eventually restored eligibility to
certain immigrants, but prior to this, states had considered several SSI
replacement options for immigrant families, including access to or expansion of
the states’ general assistance program, access or expansion of the states’
SSI supplement or disability benefit program and/or creating a new program
altogether. With respect to Food
stamps, 13 states had chosen to provide state-funded food assistance to some
immigrants who lost Food Stamp eligibility when PROWRA was enacted.
The 13 states were: California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Texas
and Washington. Although PROWRA
legislation restricts access to TANF funded benefits for immigrants who arrived
in the United States after the reform, some states have decided to provide state
funded TANF benefits to immigrants.
California - Los
Angeles Department of Health Services established the Local Diversity Operations
Council, which offers a variety of health related programs and services for
immigrants in the Los Angeles area. Some
of the programs include: The Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center,
which is a newly funded initiative that expands access to language resources for
immigrants. The resources focus on cultural influences on health,
wellness and disease prevention. The
Courage to Change program seeks to expand and improve services to better meet
the needs of ambulatory patients in predominantly immigrant communities of Los
Angeles. The Disability Awareness
program provides a series of training for patients, employees and consumers at
nearby community hospitals around services available for the disabled immigrant
population. The Los Angeles
Department of Health Services has also established the SPA 4 –Metro Area
Health Office to provide two core programmatic services for immigrants—the
Coalition for Human Immigration Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) and the Asian
Pacific American Legal Center. Both
programs provide a host of program eligibility information for immigrants and
multi-lingual assistance. For more
information on the programs and services offered through the Los Angeles
Department of Health Services, contact 213/240-8046.
Available at: http://www.lapublichealth.org/.
Massachusetts - The
Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants, within the Department of
Health and Human Services, has several programs geared towards providing
services and assistance to immigrants and refugees who are in need of health
care, employment, child care and language assistance.
The Massachusetts Office for
Refugees and Immigrants provides citizenship, language, educational and foster
care assistance to newcomer immigrant families.
For more information, contact Phouc Cao, 617/727-7888, or see: http://www.state.ma.us/eohhs/agencies/mori.htm.
The Bureau of Family and
Community Health, within the Office for Refugees and Immigrant Public Health,
also provides culturally sensitive health care services and information to
immigrants. For more information,
contact the Office for Refugee and Immigrant Health at 617/624-6060.
Available at: http://www.state.ma.us/dph/orih/orih.htm.
New
York
Texas
WIN Staff Contact: Iyauta
Moore, 202/587-1025 or imoore@financeproject.org
The Welfare
Information Network is supported by grants from the Annie E. Casey Foundation,
the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation,
the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Administration for Children and
Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.