Some of the most problematic barriers that immigrant families face when they come to the United States are inadequate social policies. Please outline the policies and programs that are in place, and identify why they are problematic.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

suggested answers
a. The only forms of government assistance that are available to immigrants (with the exception of refugees) are mainstream public assistance programs such as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) (Broder & Blazer, 2011; Capps & Fix, 2013).
b. The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (commonly known as “welfare reform”) increased restrictions on immigrants’ ability to receive public assistance, extending the amount of time in the United States necessary for eligibility for most programs for the poor from 3 to 5 years. The law also bars immigrants from receiving benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP; informally known as food stamps) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) (Broder & Blazer, 2011; Massey et al., 2002). The federal government closely monitors immigrants’ enrollment in public assistance programs, and attempting to enroll before the end of the 5-year waiting period is grounds for deportation. This level of punishment may discourage many immigrants from ever applying for assistance; immigrant enrollment in public assistance programs is far lower than enrollment among the U.S.-born (Broder & Blazer, 2011).
c. The 1996 changes to the laws governing public assistance also definitively barred unauthorized immigrants from nearly all income-based assistance programs (Massey et al., 2002).