JayAtl
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The problem has been growing in the US of Chinese immigrants who come here to cheat the system. Moral compass being the lowest among all immigrant population, the Chinese have been looked up unfavorably by Americans vs the perception of a model group.
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Despite their Model Minority image, approximately 55% of elderly Chinese immmigrants were on welfare, a striking contrast to the 9% figure for native-born seniors.
The Chinese seniors who immigrate these days do not consider receiving welfare to be a stigma. On the contrary, they view it as a normal benefit of immigration, whose use is actually encouraged, like a library card. They are unaware of the fact that welfare is intended only as a safety net.
The immigrant Chinese senior welfare recipients do not need the money. This is true by definition, because at the time a senior immigrates, his/her children must demonstrate to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) that they have the financial resources to be able to support the parent.
Through Chinese-language books and newspapers, and most importantly through an extremely efficient word-of-mouth process, the Chinese seniors are exceedingly well-informed about welfare.
In recent years most Chinese seniors immigrate to the U.S. with the advance intention of going on welfare. Moreover, even Chinese immigrant advocacy groups admit that the seniors' adult children who sponsor them to immigrate also have this advance intention.
The noble intentions of ``family-reunification'' provisions under which the children sponsor their elderly parents to immigrate often bear little or no resemblance to reality. Indeed, Asian-American community activist and immigrant advocate Bob Kim has noted that cancellation of SSI benefits would force many immigrant seniors to ``move back [in] with families that don't want them.''
Welfare Use Among Elderly Immigrants
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Despite their Model Minority image, approximately 55% of elderly Chinese immmigrants were on welfare, a striking contrast to the 9% figure for native-born seniors.
The Chinese seniors who immigrate these days do not consider receiving welfare to be a stigma. On the contrary, they view it as a normal benefit of immigration, whose use is actually encouraged, like a library card. They are unaware of the fact that welfare is intended only as a safety net.
The immigrant Chinese senior welfare recipients do not need the money. This is true by definition, because at the time a senior immigrates, his/her children must demonstrate to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) that they have the financial resources to be able to support the parent.
Through Chinese-language books and newspapers, and most importantly through an extremely efficient word-of-mouth process, the Chinese seniors are exceedingly well-informed about welfare.
In recent years most Chinese seniors immigrate to the U.S. with the advance intention of going on welfare. Moreover, even Chinese immigrant advocacy groups admit that the seniors' adult children who sponsor them to immigrate also have this advance intention.
The noble intentions of ``family-reunification'' provisions under which the children sponsor their elderly parents to immigrate often bear little or no resemblance to reality. Indeed, Asian-American community activist and immigrant advocate Bob Kim has noted that cancellation of SSI benefits would force many immigrant seniors to ``move back [in] with families that don't want them.''
The 1996 welfare reform legislation will not do much to reduce SSI usage by elderly immigrants. However, it will produce some reduction in Medicaid usage by this group.
Welfare Use Among Elderly Immigrants
