Congress Banned Welfare for Illegal Aliens - This $18.3 Billion Loophole Never Closed
By Ben SmithCongress banned illegal aliens from welfare in 1996. Nearly thirty years later, $18.3 billion in cash assistance has gone to households with a parent who didn't qualify, and the loophole is still open.
The money flows through "child-only" cases in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The eligible child is listed as the beneficiary, while the parent receives and controls the payment.
In fiscal year 2024, those cases accounted for nearly $760 million, roughly 9 percent of all TANF basic-assistance spending. More than 85,200 families collected through the pathway, with the cases tied to over 100,000 adults who were ineligible because of their immigration status.
The child-only designation dates to the creation of TANF under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. Congress designed it largely for children being raised by grandparents or other relatives. States also use it when a parent is ineligible for benefits, leaving the parent outside the assistance unit while the child remains on the case.
Because no work-eligible adult is included in the case, the household avoids the requirements attached to standard TANF assistance. There is no adult work mandate and no 60-month lifetime limit on benefits.
In an email shared with RedState, the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) broke down how it works:
"A U.S. citizen applying for cash welfare has to meet work requirements and stop collecting after 60 months," said Liesel Crocker, a senior research fellow at FGA and the author of the analysis. "A household with an illegal alien parent has neither of those restrictions under the child-only loophole. There were more than 85,000 of these families collecting in 2024 alone. This isn't some fringe issue."
Federal data show how large the category has become. Child-only cases made up 41 percent of all families receiving TANF basic assistance in 2024. One in four of those cases included a parent who was ineligible because of immigration status, and 91 percent of those households also received food stamps.
California accounted for most of the spending: $617 million paid to nearly 60,000 households, or 81 percent of the national total. New York spent more than $47 million, Ohio paid nearly $8 million, and Texas sent approximately $3.5 million to more than 1,400 households. More than half the states reported at least 100 such cases in fiscal year 2024. Only eight reported none.
Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill tightened eligibility for food stamps, emergency Medicaid, and the child tax credit. It did not change the rules governing child-only TANF cases. FGA explained:
"The One Big Beautiful Bill closed a lot of doors for illegal aliens trying to access welfare. This one stayed open," Crocker said. "Congress needs to change the eligibility rules for child-only TANF cases. Until they do, there's nothing stopping states from running these cases forever, and based on what we've seen, a lot of them will keep doing exactly that."
FGA is urging states to act without waiting for Congress. Because TANF operates through block grants, states can change their own eligibility rules and stop paying these cases. At the federal level, the group wants child-only assistance limited to children living with relatives or children whose parents receive Supplemental Security Income.
The 1996 welfare law was supposed to bar illegal aliens from federal benefits and impose work requirements and time limits on cash assistance. The child-only structure has allowed states to bypass both restrictions, at an estimated cost of $18.3 billion.
 |
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐