Summary of eRumor: This is said to be from someone who is in charge of the English-as-a-second language department at a large Southern California high school. It describes the writer’s outrage over the status of illegal immigrants in Southern California. A later version adds complaints about benefits received by illegal immigrants.
He qualifies for Section 8 housing and subsidized rent-Fiction!
Section 8 is a government program that provides subsidies for housing for low income families. It is supposed to go to U.S. citizens, however, and proof of citizenship is required to quality. Any illegal immigrants in Section 8 housing are there through fraud or are living with a family member who does qualify for it.
He qualifies for food stamps–
Fiction!
To qualify for food stamps you must either be a U.S. citizen or a legal immigrant.
He qualifies for free (no deductible, no co-pay) health care-Truth! & Fiction!
Illegal immigrants do not qualify for programs like Medicaid, but federal rules require hospitals to provide emergency care to critically ill or injured patients who come through the emergency room regardless of citizenship or ability to pay. Many illegal immigrants have made the emergency room their routine place of seeking medical help.
His children get free breakfasts and lunches at school-Truth!
Provision of education and free lunches and breakfasts at qualifying schools is without regard to the citizenship of the students or their families.
He requires bilingual teachers and books-Truth!
This is a part of the requirement of providing educational opportunity regardless of citizenship.
He qualifies for relief from high energy bills-Fiction!
To qualify for benefits under the Federal Low Income Energy Assistance Program there must be at least one person in the household who is either a U.S. citizen or a legal immigrant.
If they are or become, aged, blind or disabled , they qualify for SSI. Once qualified for SSI they can qualify for Medicare-Fiction!
The requirements for qualifying for SSI benefits are complicated but the bottom line is that they are not available to illegal immigrants. For an immigrant to qualify for SSI, according to the Social Security Administration, that person must qualify under one of 8 categories to be in the United States and must have contributed into the Social Security system for a minimum number of quarters.
Updated 2/27/08
https://www.truthorfiction.com/immigrants/
Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Foster Care, Adoption Assistance, the Child Care and Development Fund, and the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
The qualified immigrant category includes:
Lawful permanent residents, or LPRs (persons with green cards).
Refugees, persons granted asylum or withholding of deportation/removal, and conditional entrants.
Persons granted parole by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for a period of at least one year.
Cuban and Haitian entrants.
Certain abused immigrants, their children, and/or their parents.
Certain victims of trafficking.
Regardless of their status, “not qualified” immigrants remained eligible for emergency Medicaid
The law does not restrict access to public health programs providing immunizations and/or treatment of communicable disease symptoms (whether or not those symptoms are caused by such a disease).
School breakfast and lunch programs remain open to all children regardless of immigration status, and every state has opted to provide access to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).
Short-term noncash emergency disaster assistance remains available without regard to immigration status. Also exempted from the restrictions are other in-kind services necessary to protect life or safety, as long as no individual or household income qualification is required.
In January 2001, the U.S. attorney general published a final order specifying the types of benefits that meet these criteria. The attorney general’s list includes child and adult protective services; programs addressing weather emergencies and homelessness; shelters, soup kitchens, and meals-on-wheels; medical, public health, and mental health services necessary to protect life or safety; disability or substance abuse services necessary to protect life or safety; and programs to protect the life or safety of workers, children and youths, or community residents.
Refugees and individuals granted asylum or withholding of deportation/removal, Amerasian immigrants, Cuban and Haitian entrants, Iraqi and Afghan Special Immigrants, and victims of trafficking can receive SSI, but only during the first seven years after having obtained the relevant status.
https://www.nilc.org/overview-immeligfedprograms.html
