Topic:
STATE AID; IMMIGRATION; FEDERAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS; ALIENS;
Location:
IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION; STATE AID;

OLR Research Report


May 19, 2005

 

2005-R-0462

STATE PROGRAM ACCESS FOR NON-CITIZENS

By: Helga Niesz, Principal Analyst

You asked which state programs are open to (1) only U.S. citizens, (2) legal immigrants, or (3) illegal aliens.

The Office of Legislative Research is not authorized to give legal opinions and the following should not be considered one.

SUMMARY

State programs are generally available to legal residents of Connecticut. Some require an applicant to have lived in Connecticut for a specified period of time (usually six months or a year), but others only require that the person be a resident of the state and meet whatever other qualifications the program sets. Thus, legal immigrants can often be eligible to the same extent as U.S. citizens.

But since 1996, federal law has prohibited certain legal immigrants who were previously eligible from participating in most federally funded, means-tested programs. To qualify for the federally funded programs now, they generally must (1) be permanent U.S. residents who were in the U.S. on August 22, 1996, (2) have been here for five years if they arrived after that date, or (3) meet other exception criteria.

Connecticut currently limits its federally funded welfare programs to the groups the federal government allows, but it also provides legal immigrants now denied assistance under those programs with equivalent help under purely state-funded programs.

Illegal aliens are not usually eligible for state assistance programs, with limited exceptions such as emergency medical care and public school attendance. But some programs do not differentiate based on immigration status.

BACKGROUND — FEDERAL LAW AND QUALIFIED ALIENS

Federal welfare reform legislation in 1996 required most legal immigrants arriving after August 22, 1996 to be in the U.S. for at least five years before they could become eligible for “federal means-tested benefits,” including programs where the federal government and the states share the costs (P.L. 104-193). This law did not define federal means-tested benefits, but federal agencies subsequently decided that the term includes Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (known as Temporary Family Assistance (TFA) in Connecticut), Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) funds (which fund HUSKY B in Connecticut), and Food Stamps.

The federal law restricted access to these programs by creating a more limited definition of “qualified alien” than prior law. Now, a "qualified alien" is one who is lawfully admitted to the U.S. for permanent residence (a green card holder), a refugee, an asylee, one who has been paroled into the U.S. for a period of one year or whose deportation has been withheld, one who has been granted conditional entry to the U.S., certain battered immigrants, and other limited groups specified in the federal law.

The 1996 change excluded some previously-eligible groups such as people who had been residing in the U.S. under color of law (PRUCOLs). PRUCOL generally described immigrants whom the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) knew were in the U.S., but whom the INS decided not to take steps to deport or remove. PRUCOL has not been a formal immigration status since 1996. This is one of the groups denied access to federal programs that state immigrant programs are aimed at.

While most new “qualified aliens” now have to wait five years before being eligible for federal means-tested programs, certain groups such as asylees, refugees, Cuban or Haitian entrants, people whose deportation is withheld, and Amerasian immigrants are eligible right away, but for some programs only for the first seven years after entry to the U.S. Hmong/Highland Laotians and American Indians born in Canada are also eligible for these programs without the five-year wait. Legal aliens who are veterans or active duty members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their dependents also do not have to wait the five years.

But the federal law allows states to create their own purely state-funded programs for legal aliens who are denied benefits under the federally funded programs. Many states, including Connecticut, have done so.

CONNECTICUT LEGAL ALIEN PROGRAMS

Connecticut allows legal immigrants who are “qualified aliens” under federal law to participate in its federal-state funded programs to the extent allowed under the federal law (CGS § 17b-257a). It also created state-funded programs specifically for legal aliens who are denied benefits under these programs, which are equivalents to Temporary Family Assistance, HUSKY B, Food Stamps, and Medicaid (known as the State Medical Assistance to Non-Citizens (SMANC) program. Legal aliens residing in Connecticut are also eligible for the state-funded State-Administered General Assistance (SAGA) cash and SAGA medical assistance, the Connecticut Pharmaceutical Contract to the Elderly and Disabled (ConnPACE) program, elderly homeowners' and renter's tax relief (“circuit breaker”) programs, and some other state-funded programs or services to the same extent as U.S. citizens who are Connecticut residents. In some situations, the state will count some of the income from the alien's sponsor in determining program eligibility (called “deeming”). (CGS §§17b-112c, 17b-790a , 17b-257b, 17b-342. 17b-490)

ILLEGAL ALIENS

Federal law denies virtually all federally funded public benefits to illegal aliens (except for emergency medical care and certain other limited services).

In general, illegal (undocumented) aliens are not allowed to work in the U.S, or obtain social security numbers or driver's licenses. But their children can attend public schools and participate in the federally funded reduced price school lunch, breakfast, and after school snack programs.

Illegal aliens are generally eligible for Medicaid coverage only for emergency medical services, including emergency room, critical, and intensive care. A very small state program, State Medical Assistance for

Illegal Immigrants (which currently has only one participant) provides nursing home care when the state would otherwise have to continue to pay more expensive hospital charges for an illegal alien under Medicaid.

PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY

Table 1 below describes eligibility for state programs based on citizenship or immigration status, including prominent programs that receive both state and federal funds, such as TFA and Medicaid. If programs do not differentiate between qualified aliens and other legal aliens (as Medicaid does), we have indicated “yes” to both. A few purely state-funded programs have a residency durational requirement. The table deals only with programs at state agencies that responded to our questions.

See OLR Report 2004-R-0181, enclosed, for a discussion of entry to state public colleges and higher education institutions.

Also enclosed is a chart on Non-Citizen Eligibility that DSS uses to train its employees and a 2004 Connecticut Attorney General's opinion (2004-002) that discusses equal protection issues related to the closure of state's legal immigrant programs to new applicants in 2003 (they were re-opened in 2004).

Table 1: State Program Access for U.S. Citizens, Legal Aliens, and Illegal Aliens

Program Name

U.S. Citizens

Federally Qualified Aliens

Other Legal Aliens not qualified for federally funded programs (including former PRUCOLs)

Illegal Aliens

Temporary Family Assistance (TFA)

Yes (Y)

Y (after 5 yrs for post-1996 legal entrants to U.S.)

No (N)

N

State-funded TFA

N

Y (for those who do not qualify for regular TFA)

Y (after 6 months residency in CT for those arriving in U.S. after 4/1/98)

N

Food Stamps

Y

Y (after 5 yrs, but no exclusion period for those who (a) were over age 65 and lived in U.S. in 1996, (b) worked in the U.S. for 40 quarters,(c) are receiving federal disability benefits, or (d) are children)

N

N

State-funded Food Stamps for Non-Citizens

N

Y (if they do not qualify for federally funded program)

Y after 6 months for those entering U.S. after 4/1/98 (former PRUCOLs excluded)

N

SAGA cash assistance

Y

Y

Y

N

SAGA medical assistance

Y

Y (if not eligible for Medicaid - see SMANC below)

Y (see SMANC below)

N

Medicaid –HUSKY A (TFA and low-income families and children up to 185% of poverty level)

Y

Y (after 5 years for post-1996 legal entrants to U.S.)

N (emergency services only – but see SMANC below)

N (emergency services only)

Medicaid – Aged, Blind and Disabled

Y

Y (after 5 years for post-1996 legal entrants to U.S.)

N (emergency services only – but see SMANC below)

N (emergency services only)

HUSKY B (uses state and federal funds)

Y

Y (after 5 years for post-1996 legal entrants to U.S.)

Y (using state funds only)

N

State Medical Assistance for Non-Citizens (SMANC)

N

Y (if denied federally funded benefits)

Y

N

State Supplement Program (SSP) – Old Age Assistance

Y

Y (if receiving federal SSI, was receiving it pre-1996, entered U.S.pre-1996, or has worked in U.S. for 40 quarters

N

N

Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders (CHCPE)

Y

Y (after 5 years for post-1996 legal entrants to U.S. for Medicaid funded)

Y (state funds only)

N

Medicaid Personal Care Assistance Waiver for disabled people ages 18-64

Y

Y

N

N

ConnPACE (6 month state residency required for all applicants)

Y

Y

Y

N “Resident” is defined for this program as someone legally domiciled in the state for the required time – 6 months (183 days) (CGS § 17b-490 (d))

State-assisted Elderly Housing

Y

Y

Y

N

State-assisted Elderly Congregate Housing

Y

Y

Y

N

DSS Rental Assistance Program

Y

Y

Y

N

Energy Assistance Programs

Y

Y

Y

N

Elderly nutrition – meals on wheels (uses federal and state funding but not required to differentiate based on immigration status)

Y

Y

Y

Y

Circuit Breaker Elderly Property Tax Relief (Homeowners and Renters) (all applicants must have owned and lived in the home as principal residence at least 6 months and one day for homeowners; one-year state residency for renters)

Y

Y

Y

Y (Program does not specifically differentiate, but applicant must provide tax returns and social security income records)

Child Care Subsidy Program (eligibility based on child's citizenship/immigration status, not parents')*

Y

Y

N

N

Bureau of Rehabilitation Services (provide services for anyone legally able to work)

Y

Y

Y

N

School Readiness Program

Y

Y

Y

Y

State College Student Financial Aid

Y

Y

Y

N

DMR Programs**

Y

Y

Y

Y

DMHAS Programs **

Y

Y

Y

Y

Board of Education and Services for the Blind (BESB) services

Y (citizens-only for BESB Business Enterprises Program)

Y

Y

N

Community Economic Development Fund

Y

Y

Y

N

Energy Conservation Loan Fund

Y

Y

Y

N

Veteran Property Tax Exemptions

Y

Y

Y

N

Health Reinsurance Association plans (the state's high-risk insurance pool)

Y

Y

Y

N

* Child Care Subsidy Program (CareforKids) uses both state and federal funds and federal rules require them to follow federal TANF rules even for state funds they use to fulfill federal “maintenance of effort” requirements.

** DMR and DMHAS serve all people residing in Connecticut who meet eligibility criteria, regardless of citizenship/immigration status, but follow federal rules where Medicaid covers services.

HN:ro