Fox, "The Origins of Immigrant Status Restrictions in American Social Policy"

The March 2016 issue of the Journal of American History is out. It includes the article "Unauthorized Welfare: The Origins of Immigrant Status Restrictions in American Social Policy," by Cybelle Fox (University of California, Berkeley). Here's a short description:

When the modern welfare state was established in 1935, no federal laws barred noncitizens, even unauthorized immigrants, from social assistance. During the 1970s, however, the federal government abruptly changed course, barring unauthorized immigrants from nearly all federal welfare programs. Cybelle Fox examines the origins and consequences of this little-known policy shift. Federal restriction exacerbated the consequences of illegality for unauthorized immigrants and threatened the rights of their U.S.-born children and those suspected of entering the country illegally. It also ushered in years of struggle between local, state, and federal officials over who was responsible for the social costs of unauthorized immigration.

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