Brandeis University, The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy (D Acevedo-Garcia, PK Joshi, AN Walters, and N Sofer), Waltham, Mass.
Brandeis University, The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy (D Acevedo-Garcia, PK Joshi, AN Walters, and N Sofer), Waltham, Mass.
Acad Pediatr. 2021 Nov-Dec;21(8S):S117-S125. doi: 10.1016/j.acap.2021.06.016.
Although they are an increasing share of the US child population (26% in 2020) and have much higher poverty rates than children in nonimmigrant families (20.9% vs 9.9%), children in immigrant families have much more restricted access to the social safety net, which can lead to increased economic hardship and health and developmental risks. More than 90% of children in immigrant families are US citizens, but they are excluded from the safety net due to restrictions that affect their parents and other family members. Exclusions that affect children in immigrant families include restricted categorical eligibility based on immigrant status, stricter income eligibility, reduced benefit levels, high administrative burden, and interactions with immigration policy such as public charge. These exclusions limit the ability of both existing and enhanced social programs to reduce child poverty among this population. Results derived from the Transfer Income Model simulations for the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine's 2019 report A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty show that the poverty-reducing effects of potential enhancements to three main antipoverty programs result in unequal poverty reduction effects by family citizenship/immigration status with disproportionate negative effects on Hispanic children, 54% of whom live in immigrant families. Policy principles to improve equitable access and poverty-reduction effects of social programs for children in immigrant families include basing eligibility and benefit levels on the developmental, health and nutrition needs of the child instead of the immigration status of other family members, reducing administrative burden, and eliminating the link between immigration policy and access to the safety net.
尽管移民家庭的儿童在美国儿童人口中占比不断增加（2020 年为 26%），且贫困率远高于非移民家庭的儿童（20.9%对 9.9%），但他们获得社会安全网的机会受到更多限制，这可能导致经济困难加剧，以及健康和发育风险增加。移民家庭中的 90%以上的儿童是美国公民，但由于影响其父母和其他家庭成员的限制，他们被排除在安全网之外。影响移民家庭儿童的排除因素包括基于移民身份的类别资格限制、更严格的收入资格、降低福利水平、行政负担沉重，以及与公共负担等移民政策的相互作用。这些排除因素限制了现有和增强的社会计划在减少这部分人口的儿童贫困方面的能力。美国国家科学院、工程院和医学院 2019 年报告《减少儿童贫困路线图》中的转移收入模型模拟结果显示，三项主要扶贫计划的潜在增强措施对减少贫困的效果导致家庭公民身份/移民身份的不平等减贫效果，对西班牙裔儿童产生不成比例的负面影响，其中 54%生活在移民家庭。改善移民家庭儿童获得社会计划和平等减贫效果的政策原则包括根据儿童的发展、健康和营养需求确定资格和福利水平，而不是其他家庭成员的移民身份，减轻行政负担，并消除移民政策与获得安全网之间的联系。
