| Summary: | A steady increase of new immigrants to the United States has sparked a great debate on
the financial impact the foreign born population has on public services. While the United
States government has an extensive history on exclusions for potential public charges, the
impact of negative attitudes towards immigrants has caused substantial changes in
eligibility criteria for legal permanent residents and ultimately immigration policy at
large. This report uses group threat theory, which predicts a punitive response from a
dominant group when these individuals perceive a threat to their group interests to
explain shifts in attitudes and corresponding changes in eligibility criteria for public
benefit programs for immigrants. Additionally, this study examines how U.S. citizens’
misinformed perceptions of immigrants’ utilization of public programs may negatively
influence public support for increased government spending on public health care programs.
To quantify the implications of public attitudes, the study uses repeat crosssectional
data on attitudes towards immigration from the General Social Survey (GSS)
from 1994 (N=578), prior to Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996. The responses are compared to a similar survey
conducted by GSS in 2004 (N=365) an era of steep economic growth and substantially
higher health care costs.
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