As the federal government shutdown halts funding for key welfare programs, alarming data is surfacing about immigrant reliance on and abuse of taxpayer-funded benefits. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins revealed that “thousands and thousands” of fraud cases have been uncovered in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program.
Rollins said the Department of Agriculture requested state data to identify misuse by illegal aliens. Only 29 states cooperated. The findings? Shocking. “We found one guy in six different states getting benefits, and about 5,000 dead people still receiving food stamps,” she said. Rollins called for urgent reform to protect truly needy Americans and end systemic corruption.
Compounding the issue, a new analysis by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) shows nearly half of all immigrant-headed households with young children are receiving SNAP, WIC, or both. Among native-born American households with young children, only 31 percent rely on these programs.
The disparity is even more striking among Latin American immigrant households—65 percent use either SNAP or WIC, and 28 percent rely on both programs. Even when accounting for legal status or naturalization, 43 percent of all immigrant-headed households with young children still receive government food aid.
Researchers Steven Camarota and Karen Zeigler warn that if the shutdown continues, immigrant communities will feel the pinch—but they also raise a critical policy question: “Should the U.S. continue an immigration policy that imports millions who ultimately rely on taxpayer support to raise their families?”
The data underscores a deeper issue. Once low-income immigrants settle in the U.S., detaching them from welfare systems becomes increasingly difficult. The report’s findings challenge open-border advocates to reconcile their immigration stance with the fiscal reality facing American taxpayers.
