Immigrants & Immigration
A growing effort to restrict immigrants’ access to public benefits
Debates over immigrant use of public benefits rely heavily on numbers—yet widely cited studies reach starkly different conclusions from nearly identical data, and policy is moving quickly to restrict access. This Brookings collection brings clarity to this contested issue. In the first piece, Mark Greenberg maps the expanding set of federal actions limiting immigrants’ access to services and assistance, from PRWORA’s original framework to new public charge rules. In the second piece, Tara Watson and Sasha Snyder explain why estimates of immigrant benefit participation diverge so widely, walking through the four methodological choices that drive the differences and recommending best practices. In the third piece, they apply that approach to the 2023 American Community Survey, finding that non-citizens participate in most programs at lower rates than citizens—despite being disproportionately low-income. Together, the three offer a guide to the policy stakes, the measurement pitfalls, and the underlying evidence.
While the details are sometimes complex, the big picture is not. It is hard to see this as anything other than an effort to make life in the U.S. unsustainable for millions of families with immigrant members.
Immigrants & Immigration
Immigrant public benefit participation: Our estimates
Immigrants & Immigration
Measuring immigrant public benefit participation: A methodological guide