Welfare enrollment was highest for households headed by immigrants originating in Mexico, with 57 percent participation. Guatemalan immigrants were second, with 55 percent; those from the Dominican Republic were third, with 54 percent participation.
Families gather food at a food pantry for those in need inside the Streets of Destiny Church June 22, 2006 in Phoenix, Arizona. The two year old church serves mainly working class Latinos from Mexico. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, nearly 37 percent of immigrants in Phoenix and 36 percent statewide currently fall below the poverty level.
A new study from the Center for Immigration Studies shows that high percentages of legal and illegal immigrants in America are drawing benefits from at least one major form of welfare.
Using U.S. Census Bureau data from 2010 and 2011, the group analyzed the more than 50 million legal and illegal immigrants and their American-born children under 18 years of age. Large numbers, the limited immigration advocacy group found, are struggling in poverty, reliant on welfare and uninsured.
The study found that in 2010, 36 percent of immigrant-headed households receive benefits from at least one welfare program, compared to just 23 percent of households headed by U.S. natives. Among households with children, immigrant welfare households outnumbered non-immigrants by a similarly wide margin: 57 percent to 40 percent.
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