BENEFITS AND ILLEGAL ALIENS- THE FACTS

As many of you know the subject of immigaration and what benefits an illegal aliens are able to recieve have been of great discusion in this state by County Boards , by state lawmakers, and a hot topic in the current Presidential campaign especially on the Republican side.

This topic I think will not go away anytime and will be a hot topic for the next year and beyond. Also at the Department of Human Services 2007 budget hearings last June someone testified that in his view his wife was be denied something that illegal aliens are recieving.

Tim Gessler who heads the Financial Assistance Division for the Winnebago County Human Services Department put together information on what illegal aliens are eleigible and are verification of residency required to particpate in a program- with footnaotes at the bottom that explain .

The information is slighly changed in format that what was handed out to the Human Services Board for which I am a member of- the program is in bold with the two questions and answer to follow.


Economic Support Policies for Benefits

To Undocumented (or illegal) Aliens











Program

Is an undocumented (or illegal) alien eligible?
Is verification of Citizenship/Legal Residency status required?

Medical Assistance

Is an undocumented (or illegal) alien eligible? No, except for limited emergency
services. (1) (a) (b)

Is verification of Citizenship/Legal Residency status required?
Yes, we must verify for all persons.

FOOD SHARE

Is an undocumented (or illegal) alien eligible?
No. (c)

Is verification of Citizenship/Legal Residency status required?
Yes, we must verify if questionable.(2)

CHILDCARE
Is an undocumented (or illegal) alien eligible?
No. (d)
Is verification of Citizenship/Legal Residency status required?
Yes, we must verify if questionable.

W-2
Is an undocumented (or illegal) alien eligible? No. (e)

Is verification of Citizenship/Legal Residency status required? Yes, we must
verify if questionable.





(1) Undocumented (or illegal) aliens who have a medical emergency can be found eligible for Emergency Medical Assistance if they meet all program requirements and a Doctor certifies that they provided emergency care. The Emergency Medical Assistance only covers the urgent services necessary to address the medical emergency. By Federal definition, pre-natal care to a pregnant woman can be covered by Emergency Medical Assistance.




(2) A “questionable” citizenship or legal residency status applies to anyone claiming they were not born in the United States or they are unable to provide sufficient documentation of their legal residency in the US. “Questionable” responses mean we will require an SSN, DOB, and Place of birth. This information will be crossmatched with SSA records and within a few days we will be notified that the provided information does not match SSA records. We will begin secondary verification of the provided information with the Federal Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services and they will verify whether or not the applicant has a current legal residency status in the United States.




MA Handbook 3.2.2.3 Status codes 02, 08,09,10,12,13,14

Emergency MA covered in MA handbook 3.2.3

FS Handbook 3.12.1.2, CFR 273.2 (f) (1) (ii) (B)

Daycare Manual 2.2.0 (1)

W-2 Manual 2.2.1 (e)