Welfare bill provision targets immigrants

National Catholic Reporter, Oct 27, 1995 by Cheryl Resh

An immigration provision tied to the welfare reform bills before both the House and Senate represents an astonishing and dramatic departure from this country's historic approach to immigration.

The provision would impose the severest type of limitation ever imposed on legal immigrants who are already living in the United States. The proposed measure, through a complex process, would effectively deny most federal benefits to legal permanent residents through a complex process. All of the income and resources of the immigrant's sponsor and the sponsor's spouse would be added to the income and resources of the legal immigrant in determining eligibility for such federal programs as Medicaid, Aid to Families with Dependent Children food stamps and child welfare services.

The sponsor's resources would also limit eligibility for Title IV financial aid programs that families use to meet college costs, such as Pell Grants and Suplemental Loans.

A similar eligibility process has historically applied to three federal programs - AFDC, food stamps and Supplemental Security Income. However, the eligibility process only applies for the first three years after entry to the United States, and both the sponsor and the legal immigrant understand the terms of this guaranteed support.

In addition, only part of the sponsor's income and resources are treated as available to the immigrant. What seems especially important in this current legislation is the expansion of resources considered available to the immigrant through the sponsor's income over a more extended time.

This new proposal would affect legal immigrants currently residing in the United States. Although many have been here longer than three years, they will be affected for at least another five-year period if the Senate version becomes law. These permanent residents are currently paying taxes, are subject to military service, and have all the other responsibilities of citizenship except the privilege of voting. This eligibility limitation proposed for current immigrants already living here violates the whole spirit, and is an absolute contradiction of, our historic approach to immigration.

The Welfare Reform Bill of the House, in its present version, is primarily focused on future immigrants and would not change the status of current legal immigrants as the Senate version does. Both versions, however, would view the legal immigrant as benefiting from the sponsor's resources even if the immigrant became a citizen.

Taking all the income and resources of the sponsor into account would make it very difficult, if not impossible, for a legal immigrant to receive federal benefits in the future. Using just the partial resources of the sponsor currently disqualifies many from food stamps. For example, the National Immigration Law Center notes "that currently, sponsor ownership of a recent-model car would generally disqualify the sponsored immigrant from food stamps no matter how needy or hungry the sponsored immigrant."

In addition, if the sponsor refuses to provide the information or cannot be located, the immigrant would simply be ineligible for the benefit.

For most, the "first three years after entry" was many years ago and they now have children who are ready to go to college only to find this new law would affect them in a very real way - limited aid eligibility to pay for the education of their. children. At the University of California, Berkeley, there are 3,294 undergraduates on federal financial aid that could lose their current need-based financial aid if this provision is passed. The Office of the President of the University of California indicates that in 1993-94 there were 13,529 undergraduate permanent residents in the university system on federal aid. The chancellor's office of the California Community College System has determined that the impact of this process of determining eligibility for federal financial aid would make 35,000 of 140,000 current Pell Grant recipients in their system ineligible because they are permanent residents. As a measure of impact across the nation, it is estimated that a total of 300,000 financial aid recipients would be affected.

Votes are near. There is little time left to influence the language in the bills that are to be discussed on the floor of the House and Senate. Earlier in the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Diane Feinstein introduced an amendment to defeat the measure barring citizens from receiving benefits. She said, "This would surely create two classes of American citizens. If these provisions are not removed, they will surely be challenged in the courts on constitutional grounds." Efforts by her and others to limit the impact of this provision failed.

The legislation would be a nightmare for private agencies like Catholic Charities as they determine what services could be provided to immigrant families cut off from federal help.

And it should be a problem for all Catholics, many of whom were immigrants or came from immigrant backgrounds. The proposal should cause us to reflect on the pope's recent message calling for America to "persevere in its own best traditions of openness and opportunity." John Paul went on to say during his recent visit, "It would be sad if the United States were to run away from the enterprising spirit that has always sought the most practical and responsible ways of continuing to share with others the blessings God has richly bestowed here."