More Immigrants Receiving Aid

The number of elderly, blind and disabled immigrants receiving cash through one federal welfare program has risen more than 14 percent each year since 1985, a Social Security Administration official said Tuesday.

The growth mirrors recent increases in immigration to the United States, Deputy Commissioner Carolyn Colvin told a Senate panel.

Non-citizens - legal immigrants and refugees - account for 12 percent of all recipients in the Supplemental Security Income program, Colvin told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s immigration subcommittee.

Those recipients also tend to be poorer than U.S. citizens on the rolls, she said, because “non-citizen recipients, particularly the aged, may not receive significant income from other sources such as Social Security.”