The number of immigrants sixty years or older in 1980 who entered during the 1970s was only 262,000, just 7 percent of the sixty years and older foreign-born population. More data needs to be gathered, of course, to determine the extent to which this explains the increase in alien participation in the SSI program. The intersection of immigration policy and public benefits policy is a complex topic that episodically captures national attention, both among policymakers and the general public. In times of great labor force needs and abundant opportunity, there tends to be little attention to the domestic context of immigration. In times of slow or uncertain growth, restricted budgets, and reduced opportunity, sensitivity to domestic impact is heightened.
Immigration policy is viewed as yet another area ripe for reform.
In this context, the Commission has examined closely the existing relationship between immigration and public benefit policies and their impact. The primary cause of concern to both the public and to the Commission is the lack of effective enforcement at our borders and the resulting presence of many aliens who have entered illegally. The Commission found that inconsistencies in immigration and benefits policy undermine the credibility of both. The Commission believes that decisions on benefits eligibility should be consistent with and support the objectives of immigration policy . Legal immigrants enter the United States under U.S. law because their admission is considered to be in the national interest.