Immigrants Significantly Use Welfare  

            Frank Sharry is a radical immigration activist with a weak grasp of truth. Sharry, who heads something called “America’s Voice,” recently claimed that “immigrants tend to be hard-working family people who eschew welfare when possible (not to mention that undocumented immigrants [i.e., illegal aliens] don’t qualify for welfare. . . .).”

            Reality check: Figures from the March 2009 Current Population Survey of the Census Bureau show widespread use of public assistance by immigrants. Citing those figures in a recent report, Steve Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies, observed:

            “In 2008, 58 percent of all households headed by an immigrant [legal or illegal] with one or more children under age 18 used at least one welfare program, compared [with] 36 percent for native households with children. . . . High immigrant welfare use is partly explained by the low education level of many immigrants. Of immigrant households with children, almost one in three is headed by someone who did not graduate from high school, compared [with] one out of ten for native born households with children.”

            With respect to illegal immigrants, it is true that they are barred from most welfare programs, but not all. One they get is Earned Income Tax Credit, basically a refund on taxes greater than the taxes paid. Also, their American born children, as citizens, are eligible for all welfare programs—a definite benefit for the parents. And in some instances, they can obtain public housing.  

            Illegals also make extensive use of free medical care at emergency rooms and other facilities. Often they receive free prenatal care and delivery. Many pregnant women illegally come to the United States specifically to enjoy the latter benefits. When the children reach school age, they can go to school—free day care for the parents—and receive free meals. Legal immigrants are entitled to public schooling, but the Supreme Court ruling that gave this right to illegal aliens is highly questionable. 

            Immigration enthusiasts like to claim that immigration today is really no different from immigration in the past. That’s not true on any number counts. One of the most significant is that immigrants in the previous Great Wave had few public programs to rely on. Often, because they couldn’t make it here in America, as many as 40 percent of them returned to their home countries. Today few go home, and the generosity of our public assistance surely has something to do with it.