More than half of immigrant-headed households used at least one major welfare program in 2024, according to a Center for Immigration Studies analysis, while Census-based data show particularly high SNAP participation among Afghan, Somali, Iraqi and Dominican households.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
More than half of U.S. households headed by immigrants received benefits from at least one major welfare program in 2024, while separate Census-based figures show considerably higher participation in food assistance among several immigrant-origin groups.
An analysis published by the Center for Immigration Studies in February 2026 found that 52.7% of immigrant-headed households participated in one or more major welfare programs, compared with 37.3% of households headed by U.S.-born Americans.
The largest differences involved health care and food assistance. Medicaid participation was 39% among immigrant-headed households compared with 27% among U.S.-born-headed households, while food-assistance participation was 35% versus 22%.
The report also estimated that 60.7% of households headed by illegal immigrants used at least one welfare program.
Those figures measure household participation, which can include benefits legally received by eligible U.S.-citizen children or other qualifying family members even when the immigrant household head is personally ineligible for a particular program.
That distinction is significant because immigrants without legal status are generally barred under federal law from programs including SNAP, non-emergency Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Supplemental Security Income and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Their U.S.-citizen children, however, can qualify for benefits if they meet the applicable program requirements.
Separate figures drawn from U.S. Census data show large differences in SNAP participation among specific ethnic and national-origin groups.
A chart compiled by Personal Finance Wizards using U.S. Census Table S0201 reported that 45.6% of Afghan households receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.
Somali households were listed at 42.4%, followed by Iraqi households at 34.8%, Dominican households at 34.4% and Caribbean households at 28.2%.
Those figures have become part of a broader political dispute over the fiscal impact of immigration and how benefit participation should be measured.
Supporters of immigration frequently note that illegal immigrants themselves are legally barred from most federal welfare programs. Critics counter that measuring only benefits paid directly to an unauthorized immigrant can understate government assistance reaching mixed-status families, particularly households containing U.S.-born children.
Public assistance available to qualifying households can extend well beyond traditional cash welfare. Programs discussed in the immigration debate include Medicaid, SNAP, SSI, housing assistance, TANF, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, school meal programs, CHIP, Medicare, Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, the Earned Income Tax Credit and Additional Child Tax Credit.
Eligibility varies considerably by immigration status, program and, in some cases, state law.
The Center for Immigration Studies conducted another analysis later in the year concentrating on households headed by noncitizens rather than all immigrants.
Its June 2026 report, based on pooled Current Population Survey data from 2021 through 2025, estimated that approximately half of those noncitizen-headed households were headed by illegal immigrants.
It found that 47% of noncitizen-headed households participated in one or more traditional welfare programs — defined in the report as TANF, SSI, SNAP, WIC, school meals, Medicaid or housing assistance — compared with 28% of U.S.-born households.
When eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit and Additional Child Tax Credit was incorporated, the respective rates increased to 57% and 34%.
The study reported some of the largest state-level disparities in Maryland, Arizona, New York and North Carolina.
In each of the highest-immigration states examined, including California, New York, Texas and Florida, noncitizen-headed households either used traditional welfare programs or qualified for the two tax credits at rates at least 20 percentage points higher than U.S.-born households in the same state, according to the report.
Differences in program participation can reflect not only income but also the legal categories through which immigrants entered the United States.
Federal law defines multiple classes of immigrants who can qualify for public benefits.
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, codified in federal law at 8 U.S.C. § 1641, identifies categories of “qualified aliens,” including lawful permanent residents, refugees, asylees, Cuban and Haitian entrants, certain people granted withholding of removal, qualifying trafficking or domestic-violence survivors and certain parolees.
The eligibility framework has also been summarized by the National Immigration Forum and the National Immigration Law Center.
Before changes that began taking effect in late 2025, refugees, asylees, Cuban and Haitian entrants, trafficking survivors and Iraqi and Afghan Special Immigrant Visa holders could qualify for certain federal benefits without serving the standard five-year waiting period applied to many lawful permanent residents.
For SSI, humanitarian-category eligibility generally expires after seven years unless the recipient obtains another qualifying status, a limit adopted by Congress in 1996 based partly on an expectation that many recipients would naturalize during that period.
Congress substantially revised parts of the eligibility system through a federal reconciliation law enacted in July 2025.
Beginning Nov. 1, 2025, SNAP eligibility was narrowed to lawful permanent residents, Cuban and Haitian entrants and individuals residing in the United States under a Compact of Free Association, according to the information provided.
That change removed refugees, asylees and Special Immigrant Visa holders from SNAP eligibility going forward.
Additional eligibility restrictions affecting Medicaid, CHIP, Medicare and Affordable Care Act premium tax credits are scheduled to take effect in stages through 2027.
The distinction between legal eligibility and household receipt is central to interpreting the participation figures.
For example, lower SSI participation among illegal-immigrant-headed households partly reflects the fact that immigrants without legal status generally cannot personally qualify for the program. Similarly, housing assistance can be provided to eligible U.S.-citizen children in mixed-status households without requiring an ineligible parent to receive the benefit personally.
Ellis Island Comparison Raises Different Historical Questions
The debate over public benefits frequently extends to comparisons between current immigration and the mass European migration processed through Ellis Island in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Between 1892 and 1954, approximately 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island, and estimates cited by historical immigration researchers suggest roughly 33% to 40% of Americans have at least one ancestor among those arrivals.
Much of that immigration occurred during the so-called Great Wave between 1880 and 1924.
The system differed substantially from today’s federal welfare and immigration framework.
Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island faced screening intended in part to determine whether they were likely to become dependent on public assistance.
National Park Service material describing historic legal inspections at Ellis Island notes that officials examined whether immigrants were likely to become public charges.
Travelers were typically expected to demonstrate that they possessed enough money to support themselves after arrival.
The amount was generally between $18 and $25, according to historical accounts.
That requirement came in addition to an ocean passage that could cost approximately $25 to $30 for a steerage-class traveler, meaning prospective immigrants often had to save for months or years before making the journey.
Steamship companies also had a direct financial incentive to prevent passengers likely to be rejected from boarding in Europe.
Under the Immigration Act of 1891, carriers could be required to transport inadmissible immigrants back to their countries of origin at their own expense.
Companies could also face a $100 fine for passengers rejected for preventable reasons, including certain contagious diseases.
Accounts of the era describe steamship agents as exercising significant screening authority because companies held them responsible for passengers who were likely to fall into legally excluded categories.
At Bremen, Germany, steamship companies refused to sell tickets to an estimated 8,000 prospective immigrants in 1905 alone, according to the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
Historians have cited that extensive pre-departure screening as one reason only about 2% of immigrants who ultimately reached Ellis Island were denied admission. Many people considered likely to fail the inspection were stopped before they boarded ships bound for the United States.
The comparison is imperfect because the legal system, economy, social-safety net and composition of immigration have changed dramatically during the intervening century.
The modern statistics nevertheless show that government-benefit participation varies significantly between immigrant and U.S.-born households and among different immigrant-origin populations.
The 52.7% participation rate identified for immigrant-headed households, the 60.7% estimate for illegal-immigrant-headed households and the particularly high SNAP rates reported among Afghan, Somali and Iraqi households have placed those differences at the center of the debate over immigration’s fiscal consequences.
At the same time, the figures require distinguishing between immigrants personally receiving benefits and households containing eligible spouses or U.S.-citizen children, as well as accounting for federal rules that give different legal immigrant classifications different levels of access to assistance.
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