A new analysis released by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) revealed that almost half of households headed by immigrants are on traditional forms of welfare such as food stamps, Medicaid, and subsidized housing. The CIS pored over data collected from 2021 to 2025 in the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement, where they found that 47% of immigrant-headed households in the country are on welfare.
An article from Breitbart News then compared that figure with the 28% of American citizen-headed households that are on traditional forms of welfare, which shows there is a 19% gap between welfare use among immigrants and Americans. To summarize in one sentence, the vast majority of taxpayer dollars set aside for welfare programs is going to immigrants, not U.S. citizens.
“We find that non-citizen households use one or more means-tested programs at substantially higher rates than the U.S.-born in virtually every state,” CIS researchers Steven Camarota and Karen Zeigler go on to say in the study. The analysis also showed that states that have a large foreign population see a staggering increase of welfare use among immigrant-headed households.
Breitbart stated that in New York, 61% of immigrant households are on one or more forms of welfare compared to just 33% of American households headed by citizens. In Massachusetts, 55% of immigrant-headed households are on welfare, as well as 54% in California, 53% in Arizona, and 50% in Maryland. Camarota and Zeigler then provided further insight into their findings.
“Although most new legal immigrants and illegal immigrants are barred from accessing most means-tested programs, this analysis, like others going back decades, shows that these restrictions have not prevented a large share of non-citizen-headed households from accessing the welfare system across the country,” CIS’s Camarota and Zeigler wrote.
Other states with significantly smaller foreign populations see huge gaps between immigrants utilizing the welfare system and Americans on similar programs. In Idaho, while 50% of immigrant-headed households are on welfare, half as many American citizen-headed households are on welfare. In Nebraska, 54% of immigrant-headed households are on welfare, while only 21% of American citizen-headed households are on these programs.
Users commented on the findings presented in the Breitbart article, many of them stating that the Trump administration needs to take action to address the phenomenon. “Most foreigners see USA as an ATM. They don’t care how many Americans are hurt, cheated or displaced. I’ve tried a million times to explain this to ‘nice’ suburban whites. They cannot face that truth,” one person commented.
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“When my ancestors came to this country, they had but two choices: One, work or starve. The other was to try to assimilate, learn the language, and try to act like an American. That is not happening now,” someone else responded. Another user simply stated what they believe to be the best solution to the problem, writing, “Deport every foreigner on government aid.” Another agreed, but also said, “It’s against many laws in the US to give ANY aid to foreigners. Deport those people giving our tax dollars to foreigners. They are the problem.”
Watch VP JD Vance comment on Somali migrant welfare abuse here: