Patchwork Policies: State Assistance for Immigrants under Welfare Reform

An Urban InstituteProgram to AssessChanging Social PoliciesOccasional Paper Number 24Assessingthe NewFederalismPatchworkPolicies:StateAssistanceforImmigrantsunderWelfareReformWendy ZimmermannKaren C. TumlinThe Urban InstitutePatchworkPolicies:StateAssistanceforImmigrantsunderWelfareReformWendy ZimmermannKaren C. TumlinThe Urban Institute PatchworkPolicies:StateAssistanceforImmigrantsunderWelfareReformWendy ZimmermannKaren C. TumlinThe Urban InstituteOccasional Paper Number 24An Urban Institute Program to Assess Changing Social PoliciesThe UrbanInstitute2100 M Street, N.W.Washington, DC 20037Phone: 202.833.7200Fax: 202.429.0687E-Mail: paffairs@ui.urban.orghttp://www.urban.org Copyright © May 1999. The Urban Institute. All rights reserved. Except for short quotes, no part of this book maybe reproduced in any form or utilized in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,recording, or by information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from The Urban Institute.This report is part of the Urban Institute’s Assessing the New Federalismproject, a multiyear effort to monitor andassess the devolution of social programs from the federal to the state and local levels. Alan Weil is the project director.The project analyzes changes in income support, social services, and health programs and their effects. In collabora-tion with Child Trends, the project studies child and family well-being.The project has received funding from The Annie E. Casey Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The RobertWood Johnson Foundation, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John D. and CatherineT. MacArthur Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, TheMcKnight Foundation, The Commonwealth Fund, the Stuart Foundation, the Weingart Foundation, The Fund for NewJersey, The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, and The Rockefeller Foundation.The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration.The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or itsfunders. The authors are indebted to Jason Ost for his excellent research assistance; to Katrina Ryan, who helped conduct earlystate interviews for this project; and to Felicity Skidmore, who helped edit the report. The authors are extremelygrateful to the scores of state officials who provided detailed information on their programs.The authors also thank Tanya Broder, Kristin Butcher, Kelly Carmody, Michael Fix, L. Jerome Gallagher, PamelaHolcomb, Leighton Ku, Shruti Rajan, Edwin Silverman, Freya Sonenstein, and Alan Weil for their many helpful com-ments on earlier drafts of the report. Assessing the New FederalismAssessing the New Federalismis a multiyear Urban Institute projectdesigned to analyze the devolution of responsibility for social programsfrom the federal government to the states, focusing primarily on healthcare, income security, employment and training programs, and socialservices. Researchers monitor program changes and fiscal developments. In collab-oration with Child Trends, the project studies changes in family well-being. Theproject aims to provide timely, nonpartisan information to inform public debate andto help state and local decisionmakers carry out their new responsibilities more effec-tively.Key components of the project include a household survey, studies of policies in13 states, and a database with information on all states and the District of Columbia,available at the Urban Institute’s Web site. This paper is one in a series of occasion-al papers analyzing information from these and other sources. ContentsPatchwork Policies: State Assistance for Immigrants under Welfare ReformOverview 1Introduction 8Study Approach 10The Policy Context 11Demographic Change 11Rising—and Falling—Rates of Benefit Use 12Strong National and State Economies 12Shifting Policy Environment 12Federal Welfare Reform and the Devolution of Immigrant Policy14PRWORA’s Immigrant Restrictions 14Restorations and Narrow Definitions 18The Devolution of Immigrant Policy 18State Choices 21New Choices, New Programs: States Step in but Barriers Remain22Generosity at First Glance 22The Illusion of Eligibility 23Do Existing State Assistance Programs Provide an Effective Safety Net for Immigrants? 31State Cash Assistance 31State Health Insurance Programs 35State Food Programs 38Uneven Assistance for Unqualified Immigrants 39California Takes an Aggressive Approach 40Other States Act More Cautiously 41The Gray Zone: Assistance to Immigrants Residing “under Color of Law” 41Implementing Verification Rules 42 PATCHWORK POLICIES: STATE ASSISTANCE FOR IMMIGRANTS UNDER WELFARE REFORMsviNaturalization Initiatives 44What Explains State Choices? 45Both Large and Small Immigrati