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![handle is hein.gao/gaobaawvk0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
DOCUKEET USD81
05318 - rb0585505]
Number of dawly arrived Aliens Uho Receive Supplemental Security
Income Needs To Be Reduced. ERD-78-50; B-164O31(4). February 22.
1978. 21 pp. + 3 appendicei (3 pp.).
Report to the Congress; by Elmer B. Staats, Comptroller General.
Issae Area: Income Security Programs (1300); income Security
Programs: Eligibility Determination (1301).
Contact: Human Resources Div.
Dudget Function: Income Security: Public Assistance and Other
Income Supplements (604).
Orqenization Concerned= Department of the treasury; Department
of Health, Education, and elfrre; Department of Justice.
Congressional Relevance: Congress; Icuse Committee on Says anf
Reins: Senate Committee on Finance.
Authority: Immiqration and Nationality Act 48 U.S.C. 1101).
Social Security Act, title XVI (42 U.S.C. 1381). Mathes v.
Diaz, 426 0.5. 67 (1976). 8 U.S.C. 1182. 8 U.S.C. 1251.
Although the Immigration and Nationality Act has
provisions directed at preventing newly arrived aliens from
receiving public assistance, many do receive assistance,
including Supplemental Security Incoae (SSI). About 37,500 newly
arrived aliens in five States receive about $72 million in SSI
benefits annually, and about $16 millicn of this is paid to
refuqees who are exempt from the act's public charge provisions.
Findings/Conclusions: The SS1 progra does not have a residency
requirement for aliens. newly arrived alieo.e need only to be
admittad for permanent residency or to be refugees is order to
receive SSI. In most cases, aliens apply for SSI because their
.ponsors, who promised in affidavits of support to keep them off
public assistance, do not keep their promises. Sponsors cannot
be forced to pay for assistance because the courts have ruled
that the affidavits are unenforceable. Aliens are deportable as
public charges only if assistance is not repaid on demand.
However, repayment is not required under the SSI program and
other assistance proqrams. oetter screening of visa applicants,
stricter income criteria for judging the ability of te spoasor
to support the alien, and increased coordination ccacecniag the
alien's overseas assets could reduce the number of newly arrIved
aliens receiving SSI. Recommendations: Thc Secretary of State,
in coordination !-ith the Secretary of ieal~h, Education, and
Velfare, should doevelop more stringent in me criteria for
judging the ability oC a sponsor to support a visa applicant.
Conqress should enact legislation: establishing a residency
requirement to prevent 'issistace peyments to newly arrived
aliens if the condition upon which eligibility is established
existed before entry; making the affidavit of support legally
binding; and akinq aliens subject to deportation if they
receive Federal, State, or local public assistance because of
condition3 existing oefore entry (DRS)](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.gao/gaobaawvk0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)