A number of studies, however, report that the welfare reform legislation seems to have
had an important influence on immigrant participation in welfare programs (Fix and Passel,
1999; Borjas, 2001). In particular, welfare participation rates declined after 1996 for both
immigrant and native households, but the decline was much steeper among immigrants.
This finding led an Urban Institute study to conclude that “because comparatively few legal
immigrants were ineligible for public benefits as of December 1997, it appears that the
steeper declines in non-citizens’ than citizens’ use of welfare ... owe more to the ‘chilling
effect’ of welfare reform and other policy changes than they do to actual eligibility changes”