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We examine the effect of the 1996 welfare reform legislation on participation in the
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program by immigrants. Although none of the
immigrants on the SSI rolls before welfare reform lost eligibility, the potential exists for
future impacts on the SSI caseload and the well-being of recent immigrants. We use
microdata files from the Social Security Administration’s Continuous Work History
Sample matched to administrative data on SSI participation for the period 1993 to 1999.
We estimate simple models of SSI participation and compare our results to the existing
literature. We then estimate a series of difference-in-differences models of SSI
participation. These models compare SSI participation by immigrants relative to nativeborn
individuals, and among affected immigrants relative to unaffected immigrants and
native-born individuals, before and after welfare reform. Descriptive results indicate that
the percentage of immigrants and natives receiving SSI decreased after welfare reform,
but by a larger percentage for natives than for immigrants. The probability of
SSI participation decreased after welfare reform for immigrants who were affected by the
legislation relative to immigrants who were unaffected. The difference-in-differences
estimate is positive for immigrants relative to otherwise similar natives, but the estimated
effect among affected immigrants is about half as large as the effect for unaffected
immigrants. When the sample is limited to low earners as a proxy for the SSI means test,
the results are qualitatively unchanged but quantitatively much stronger.
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