Summary: GAO found that the percentage of immigrants receiving public assistance--specifically Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC)--is higher than the percentage of citizens receiving these benefits. Six percent of all immigrants receive benefits compared with 3.4 percent of all citizens. Most immigrant recipients live in four states: California, New York, Florida, and Texas; more than one-half of all immigrant recipients live in California. Between 1983 and 1993, the number of immigrants receiving SSI more than quadrupled, increasing from 151,000 to 683,000. During this period, immigrants grew from about four percent of all SSI recipients to more than 11 percent. As a percentage of all adult AFDC recipients, immigrants grew from about five percent to eight percent. In all, immigrants received an estimated $3.3 billion in SSI benefits and $1.2 billion in AFDC benefits in 1993. Most immigrant recipients are lawful permanent residents or refugees, but other characteristics of immigrants receiving SSI and AFDC vary. For example, the number of immigrants receiving SSI aged benefits--available to those 65 years and older--has increased dramatically. According to the Congressional Budget Office, a welfare reform proposal now before Congress (H.R. 4) would save $9.2 billion from the SSI program and $1 billion from the AFDC program over four years. GAO estimates that 522,000 SSI recipients and 492,000 AFDC recipients would become ineligible for benefits under H.R. 4.
