The burden that has developed on the American taxpayer from immigrants who collect welfare benefits has largely arisen in the past few decades. Reasons for the change are many. Another weakening of the standard was in guidance to U.S. consular officers from the State Department that said that a sponsor of an immigrant could satisfy the public charge provision as long as the sponsor demonstrated income at least as high as the poverty level. That was changed in 1996 by Congress to specify that the sponsor had to demonstrate income at least at the 125 percent of poverty level. An even greater problem exists with immigrants who are not screened under the public charge provision.
Refugees are exempt.
So are quasi-refugees, such as Cubans, asylum applicants and others. The largest exception has been illegal aliens who have been allowed to convert to legal residence under amnesty provisions. The Clinton Administration opposed an effort in the 1996 illegal alien reform effort to incorporate a definition of when an immigrant constituted a public charge. By doing so, the legal definitional problem would have been overcome. In May 1999 the Administration issued new regulations that defined the public charge provision.