Kate M. Manuel
Legislative Attorney
Whether and when noncitizens may receive particular types of government
assistance can be difficult to ascertain because of the various federal,
state, and local laws governing their eligibility for such assistance. The
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA)
of 1996 was enacted to establish “national policy with respect to welfare and immigration.”
With certain exceptions, PRWORA bars aliens who are not “qualified aliens” from receiving
federal, state, or local “public benefits,” and also precludes qualified aliens
from receiving “federal means-tested public benefits” for five or more
years after they enter the United States in a qualified status. However,
there are also a number of federal, state, and local measures adopted
prior to, or after, PRWORA, some of which make different provisions for
noncitizens’ eligibility for particular benefits. The application of these
measures can raise complicated issues of constitutional law, statutory
interpretation, and administrative law.
The constitutional guarantee of equal protection applies to all “persons”
within the United States, including aliens. Thus, measures governing
eligibility for public benefits could be subject to legal challenge if
they treat aliens differently than citizens. Because of Congress’s plenary
power over immigration, federal measures that distinguish between aliens
and citizens will generally be upheld so long as they are rationally
related to a legitimate government interest. State and local measures, in
contrast, are generally subject to some type of heightened scrutiny, the degree
of which can vary depending upon the benefit involved and the aliens’
status. However, state and local measures that follow a “uniform rule”
established by Congress could potentially receive the same deferential
review afforded to federal measures. Courts have reached differing conclusions as
to whether PRWORA establishes such a uniform rule. Courts have also disagreed
as to whether measures that treat lawful
nonimmigrant aliens
differently from citizens are subject to the same level of scrutiny as
those that distinguish between lawful
immigrant aliens and citizens.
Questions can also arise as to whether particular state and local measures are
preempted by federal law. Some states and localities, concerned about the
presence of unauthorized aliens within their jurisdiction, have recently
enacted measures which would define
benefits or related terms more
broadly than PRWORA does, and further restrict aliens’ eligibility for them.
Such measures could potentially be challenged on preemption grounds
because the Constitution grants Congress the power to regulate immigration.
State and local measures that purport to determine the conditions upon
which aliens may enter or remain in the United States are,
per se,
preempted. Federal statutes can also preempt state and local measures by
expressly prohibiting them, containing conflicting requirements, or
occupying the field.
Moreover, in the application of particular measures, there have been questions
about whether particular government programs, services, or types of
assistance are benefits. For example, although PRWORA includes certain
types of assistance within its definitions of
public benefit, it also
refers to “any other similar benefit.” Parties have litigated whether
particular assistance constitutes a benefit “similar” to those governed by
PRWORA. They have also litigated whether PRWORA bars aliens from receiving
benefits whose provision entails the expenditure of appropriated funds,
even if the aliens themselves must pay a fee for the benefit; as well as what
it means for a state to “affirmatively provide” for eligibility.
Similarly, because PRWORA does not affirmatively define “federal
means-tested public benefits,” there has been debate about the degree of
deference to be accorded to agency interpretations of this term as encompassing
only five mandatory spending programs (e.g., Medicaid), and no
discretionary spending programs.
Date of Report: September 9, 2013
Number of Pages: 32
Order Number: R43221
Price: $29.95
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R43221.pdf
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