Where costs increase significantly is with refugees and with children born to illegal immigrants here. Both groups are eligible for welfare benefits without delay. The facts with regard to refugees are more complicated. Refugees are identified by law as persons unable to return to their country of origin because of fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political views or membership in a social group. Some 15 percent of all immigrants are refugees, and once here, they qualify for welfare, Medicaid and job training.
Experts say that refugees are often drawn to states that offer the most generous benefits programs.
Wisconsin is not a model, however. Florida has accepted 176,000 Cuban and Haitian refugees since 1975, yet it offers only a meager package of benefits. Because of family and social ties, most of those people have remained in the state. In disproportionate numbers, they have shunned welfare, however. While 49 percent of refugees nationally were on welfare in 1989, only 19 percent of refugees in Florida received benefits.