Patterns of Immigration and Public Assistance Utilization, 1970–1980

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Abstract
The recent surge in immigration to the United States has rekindled debate over the economic burden imposed by immigrants. This article explores the utilization of public assistance by immigrants and natives. The analysis goes beyond existing research by utilizing repeated cross-sectional data. Descriptive tables show that despite their higher poverty rates, immigrant families had only minimally higher public assistance recipiency rates compared to natives. Multivariate logistic regression analyses reveal that immigrant families were generally less likely than natives to receive public assistance, other things equal. There were exceptions to this generalization according to year of observation and race/ethnicity.