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Undoing Clinton’s Sabotage of Restrictions on Immigrant Welfare ([link removed])
Washington, D.C. (September 16, 2025) - A new Center for Immigration Studies report ([link removed]) examines how the Clinton administration gutted the intent of the 1996 welfare reform laws as they apply to immigrants — and how the Trump administration can restore them.

This analysis and recommendation follows a Federal Register notice ([link removed]) issued last month in which HHS redefined the term “federal public benefit”, revising the Clinton-era interpretation that had allowed certain aliens in the country illegally to access some HHS programs and benefits, despite statutory restrictions.

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) were designed to, among other things, ensure immigrants come to America to work, not to rely on welfare. But the Clinton administration’s excessively narrow interpretation of “federal means-tested public benefit” sharply limited these protections and permitted much wider immigrant access to welfare than the law intended.

“For nearly three decades, the Clinton administration’s misinterpretation has betrayed Congress’s clear intent. It’s time to restore the law’s original meaning and fulfill the promise made to the American taxpayer,” said George Fishman, the Center's senior legal fellow and the report's author.

Key findings:
* PRWORA required most lawful permanent residents to wait five years before accessing federal welfare programs (Federal means-tested public benefits).
* Sponsors were meant to be financially responsible for such federal means-tested benefits received by family members they sponsored for green cards.
* Clinton officials redefined “Federal means-tested public benefit” to cover only a handful of programs, undermining taxpayer safeguards.
* Legislative history and plain meaning of the statute clearly intended a broader definition.

What can be done now:
* The Trump administration should issue revised regulations restoring the broad, common-sense definition of “means-tested public benefit” to include both mandatory and discretionary welfare programs.
* This would revive the PRWORA’s and IIRIRA's core promise: protecting American taxpayers while reinforcing that immigrants are expected to support themselves.
* Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan helped craft President Clinton’s narrow interpretation of “federal means-tested public benefit” as a member of Clinton’s White House staff. She will therefore need to recuse herself should the issue ever reach the Supreme Court.

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HHS Reinterprets Statute Governing Federal Public Benefit Eligibility ([link removed])

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