…for the Immigration Policy Center…
As Congress prepares to take up reauthorization of public-benefit programs, policymakers once again will consider the extent to which legal immigrants in the United States utilize these programs. Since passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), most taxpaying, lawful permanent residents are ineligible to receive many of the benefits their tax dollars help to fund. As a result, PRWORA has increased food insecurity and reduced access to health insurance among both legal immigrants and their U.S.-citizen children. At the same time, benefit restrictions do not significantly reduce federal, state and local healthcare expenditures in the long run given the high costs of caring for the uninsured…
