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Nearly Half of Non-Citizen Households with Young Children Use Food Welfare Programs ([link removed])
Washington, D.C. (November 3, 2025) - In a follow-up to our 2023 analysis - re-released last week ([link removed]) - highlighting high rates of welfare use among illegal immigrant households, the Center for Immigration Studies has published a new report ([link removed]) using 2024 federal survey data to look at non-citizen households with young children using food assistance programs.

Analysis of the 2024 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) reveals that 47 percent of households headed by non-citizens with children under age six - the target population for the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) nutrition program - receive either WIC or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, often called food stamps). With funding for both programs suspended amid the federal government shutdown, immigrant communities are going to be hard hit.

“These results highlight a broader challenge”, said Steven A. Camarota, the Center’s Director of Research and co-author of the analysis. “Once low-income immigrants settle in the United States, it becomes exceedingly difficult to prevent their use of the welfare system. This situation also raises important policy questions – particularly whether it makes sense to have an immigration system that admits so many people who turn to taxpayers to support their children.”

Among the findings:

• The 2024 SIPP shows 47 percent of households headed by non-citizens with children under age 6 receive WIC or SNAP, compared to 31 percent of U.S.-born households with young children.
• Non-citizen households account for nearly one in five of all households with young children receiving WIC or SNAP. The vast majority (96 percent) of young children in these households are U.S.-born.
• Unfortunately, the SIPP cannot be used for detailed analysis by country. However, it does show that 65 percent of households headed by non-citizens with young children from the “Americas and the Caribbean” use WIC or SNAP.
• Roughly half of non-citizens in the survey are illegal immigrants; however, all non-citizens are eligible for WIC, regardless of legal status. Illegal immigrants are not directly eligible for SNAP in most states, but they do receive benefits on behalf of U.S.-born children.
• The large share of non-citizen households using these programs is not due to immigrants having very large families. Non-citizen households with young children have only 1.1 young children under 6 on average and an average of 1.9 children under 18.
• We have no evidence that the high use of these welfare programs by non-citizens reflects fraud -- nor is it due to low rates of work, as the overwhelming majority of non-citizen households with young children have at least one worker.
• Heavy use of WIC and SNAP by non-citizens reflects the large share with modest levels of education and resulting low incomes. Of households with young children headed by a non-citizen without a bachelor’s degree, 66 percent use these programs, compared to 20 percent with at least a bachelor’s.
• Of all immigrant-headed households (naturalized citizens and non-citizens) with young children, 43 percent are dependent on at least one of these programs.
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Illegal Immigrants Will Be Hit Hard As SNAP and WIC Benefits Expire ([link removed])

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