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A federal report found California received the largest share of national TANF cash assistance for households with qualifying children living with parents who are ineligible because of immigration status.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
California accounted for the overwhelming majority of federal cash assistance paid in 2024 to families with children living in households headed by parents who are in the United States illegally, according to a federal report released June 10.
The report found that more than 80% of nationwide Temporary Assistance for Needy Families cash assistance in those cases was spent in California. Nationally, the federal government spent $759 million in TANF cash assistance in 2024 on families where a qualifying child received benefits while living with a parent excluded from the program because of immigration status.
The report was written by David Swegle, director of the Office of Family Assistance at the Administration for Children and Families under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Alex J. Adams, assistant secretary at the Administration for Children and Families.
“These cases receive relatively little public attention, yet … data show that they are far from a negligible part of the program,” the authors wrote.
Under the arrangement examined in the report, the child qualifies for federal welfare assistance even though the parent is not eligible because of immigration status. The authors said that distinction does not eliminate the broader household impact of the benefit.
“Although the benefit is formally paid on behalf of the child, it still supports a household that includes an immigration-status-ineligible parent,” the report stated. “The significance of these cases therefore cannot be judged solely by the fact that the adult is not the formal recipient.”
The report said the federal government paid TANF assistance in 2024 to about 85,000 households with qualifying children living with illegal immigrant parents.
The authors said those cases are significant because they are not subject to the same TANF requirements imposed on many low-income American families. According to the report, child-only cases involving illegal immigrant parents are not required to comply with TANF work expectations, such as regular job applications, and they are not subject to the federal 60-month lifetime benefit limit.
As a result, the report said, families in those cases can continue receiving federal welfare payments until the qualifying child turns 18. Low-income American families, by contrast, are generally subject to work participation rules and the 60-month lifetime limit, the authors said.
The number of TANF cases involving an illegal immigrant parent rose to nearly 850,000 in 2024, representing about 10% of all cases. In 2001, such cases made up nearly 6% of the total.
The report also found that nearly 78,000 of the affected households, or about 91%, received federal food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Most of the illegal immigrant parents identified in the report were Hispanic, totaling more than 106,000. The report said 5.3% were White, 4.3% were Black and 2% were Asian.
California drove the national numbers, according to the report.
In 2024, California accounted for nearly 60,000 affected households, or about 70% of the national total of illegal immigrant-headed households receiving TANF assistance through qualifying children.
The state’s annual cash assistance to those households reached about $618 million, representing about 81% of nationwide spending on the category.
The average monthly benefit in California for child-only households with illegal immigrant parents rose from an estimated $408 in 2013 to $875 in 2024, an increase of 114.5%, according to the report.
“No other state approached California’s combination of scale, concentration, and fiscal impact,” the authors wrote.
New York had the second-largest number of affected households, with about 7,635, and approximately $47.5 million in annual cash assistance. Massachusetts followed with about 3,777 households and $27.3 million. Washington had about 1,796 households and $12.2 million.
From 2001 through 2024, the United States spent about $18.3 billion in TANF cash assistance on cases involving illegal immigrant parents with welfare-recipient children, according to the report.
The findings are likely to fuel further debate over immigration, welfare eligibility and how federal benefit programs apply when U.S.-eligible children live in households with parents who do not qualify because of immigration status.
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