Do Immigrant Groups Differ in Welfare Usage? Evidence from the U.S‪.‬

Introduction Over the last two decades, the issue of welfare usage has gradually gained momentum in political debates in the United States. This trend can be linked to abuses noticed in various welfare programs--supposedly by immigrants. Such revelations and other evidence of welfare abuse led to the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in 1996, which restricts the eligibility of legal immigrants who arrived after August 1996 to federally-funded welfare programs for five years.