Welfare Reform: Implications of Proposals on Legal Immigrants' Benefits

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the effect of proposed welfare reform legislation on legal immigrant welfare recipients, focusing on: (1) legal immigrants' and citizens' use of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) programs; (2) the numbers of legal immigrants receiving SSI or AFDC benefits; (3) the immigrant recipients that could lose benefits under the welfare reform proposals; and (4) the possible impacts of restricting immigrants' SSI and AFDC benefits on federal welfare programs.