Abstract
The U.S welfare reform of 1996 restricted the eligibility of immigrants and introduced a punitive and devolved workfare system. While previous studies explained state variation in the welfare eligibility rules for immigrants, few studies have examined the intersection of immigration and welfare governance within a state. We choose the Californian welfare-to-work (WTW) program as a case, most likely to be inclusive to immigrants. Analyzing statistics, documents, and interviews at the state, county, and frontline levels, however, we also reveal multiple exclusionary mechanisms at various policy levels, such as complicated processes and insufficient translations. Our analysis of immigrant clients’ interviews helps to understand why many immigrants decide not to apply for welfare and how even WTW participants with an immigration background experience fear and are especially vulnerable to unfair treatments. Thus, the implementation of the punitive workfare regime along with the restrictive immigration regime can contradict the aim of WTW-policy to lead families in poverty to selfsufficiency.
About the authors
Prof. Dr. Lucia M. Lanfranconi is a project leader and lecturer in the School of Social Work at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Switzerland. From 2019 to 2020, Prof. Lanfranconi was a Visiting Research Scholar at the UC Berkeley Social Welfare. Her research interests lie in social inequities, gender, race and class, wage inequity, work-life balance, welfare states and welfare programs, welfare-to-work, family- and equity policy, social problems, self-help, immigration and poverty. (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5997-7698)
Dr. Yu-Ling Chang is an assistant professor in Social Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Chang’s scholarly interests focus on the intersection between poverty, inequality and social policies. Her research addresses both the processes of policymaking and the consequences of social safety net programs. (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2072-3225)
Ayda Basaran is currently a research assistant and a recent graduate of Columbia University, receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Political Science. Her research interests intersect with sociological analysis and social policy, studying social change in the areas of gender, welfare states, organizations and violence in a global dialogue through comparative international lenses.
Acknowledgments
This project was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF, project no 180713) and carried out at the University of California - Berkeley. We thank the clients as well as all the state- and county- and frontline-level administrators who we interviewed for this study and those who helped us collect additional data. We thank Paul Simpson, Kevin Clark, Joy Subaran and Patricia Malagon, who assisted in transcribing, coding and analyzing the data. We further thank the editors, co-collaborators and anonymize reviewers of this special issue as well as Aditi Das, Gesine Fuchs for their valuable feedback on the earlier versions of the manuscript.
Bibliography
Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina; Averett, Susan L.; Bansak, Cynthia A. (2016): “Welfare Reform and Immigrant Fertility”, Journal of Population Economics 29(3): 757–779.10.1007/s00148-016-0584-1Search in Google Scholar
Artiga, Samantha; Damicio, Anthony (2018): Nearly 20 Million Children Live in Immigrant Families that Could Be Affected by Evolving Immigration Policy. Download at: https://www.kff.org/disparities-policy/issue-brief/nearly-20-million-children-live-inimmigrant-families-that-could-be-affected-by-evolving-immigration-policies/ (access on 1.12.2020).Search in Google Scholar
Bakonyi, Noémi; Regös, Erika Nóra; Holzinger, Clara; Scheibelhofer, Elisabeth (2018): Any Transnational Social Security out There? NORFACE Welfare State Futures, Scientific Coordination Office, Berlin. WSF working papers TRANSWEL #2/2018.Search in Google Scholar
Bartle, Elizabeth; Segura, Gabriela (2003): “Welfare Policy, Welfare Participants, and Cal-WORKS Caseworkers: How Participants Are Informed of Supportive Services”, Journal of Poverty 7(1–2): 141–161.10.1300/J134v07n01_08Search in Google Scholar
Boghani, Priyanka (2019): A Guide to Some Major Trump Administration Immigration Policies. FRONTLINE. Download at: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/a-guide-to-somemajor-trump-administration-immigration-policies/ (access on 1.12.2020).Search in Google Scholar
Broder, Tanya; Moussavian, Avideh; Blazer, Jonathan (2015): Overview of Immigrant Eligibility for Federal Programs. National Immigration Law Center. Download at: https://www.nilc.org/issues/economic-support/overview-immeligfedprograms/ (access on 1.12.2020).10.1891/9780826126696.0013Search in Google Scholar
Brodkin, Evelyn Z. (2012): “Reflections on Street‐Level Bureaucracy: Past, Present, and Future”, Public Administration Review 72(6): 940–949.10.1111/j.1540-6210.2012.02657.xSearch in Google Scholar
Brodkin, Evelyn Z.; Larsen, Flemming (2013): “Changing Boundaries: The Policies of Workfare in the U.S. and Europe”, Poverty & Public Policy 5(1): 37–47.10.1002/pop4.14Search in Google Scholar
CDSS, California Department of Social Services (2019): CalWORKs. Annual Summary. March 2019 Sacramento, California.Search in Google Scholar
Chang, Yu-Ling; Lanfranconi, Lucia M.; Clark, Kevin (2020): “Second-Order Devolution Revolution and the Hidden Structural Discrimination? Examining County Welfare-to-Work Service Systems in California”, Journal of Poverty 24(5–6): 430–45010.1080/10875549.2020.1728010Search in Google Scholar
Cohn, D’Vera (2015): How U.S. Immigration Laws and Rules Have Changed through History. Pew Research Center, Washington, D.C. Download at: https://www.pewresearch.org/facttank/2015/09/30/how-u-s-immigration-laws-and-rules-have-changed-through-history/ on 2.12.2020).Search in Google Scholar
Evans, Tony (2016): Professional Discretion in Welfare Services: Beyond Street-Level Bureaucracy. London: Routledge.10.4324/9781315602325Search in Google Scholar
Filindra, Alexandra (2013): “Immigrant Social Policy in the American States: Race Politics and State TANF and Medicaid Eligibility Rules for Legal Permanent Residents”, State Politics & Policy Quarterly 13(1): 26–48.10.1177/1532440012454664Search in Google Scholar
Floyd, Ife (2020): Cash Assistance Should Reach Millions More Families. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Washington, DC. Downloaded at: https://www.cbpp.org/research/family-income-support/cash-assistance-should-reachmillions-more-families (access on 2.12.2020).Search in Google Scholar
Flyvberg, Brent (2001): Making Social Science Matter: Why Social Inquiry Fails and How it can Succeed Again. Cambridge: Cup.10.1017/CBO9780511810503Search in Google Scholar
Gilson, Lucy L. (2015): “Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Service”, in: Steven J. Balla; Michael Lodge; Edward C. Page (eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Classics in Public Policy and Administration. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 383–404.Search in Google Scholar
Graefe, Deborah Roempke; De Jong, Gordon F.; Hall, Matthew; Sturgeon, Samuel; VanEerden, Julie (2008): “Immigrants’ TANF Eligibility, 1996–2003: What Explains the New Across-State Inequalities?”, International Migration Review 42(1): 89–133.10.1111/j.1747-7379.2007.00115.xSearch in Google Scholar
Hammond, Andrew (2018): “The Immigration-Welfare Nexus in a New Era?”, Lewis & Clark Law Review 22(1): 501–539.Search in Google Scholar
IRS, Internal Revenue Service (2019): Immigration Terms and Definitions Involving Aliens. Download at: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/immigrationterms-and-definitions-involving-aliens (access on 1.12.2020).Search in Google Scholar
Jick, Todd D. (1979): “Mixing Qualitative and Quantitative Methods: Triangulation in Action”, Administrative Science Quarterly 24(4): 602–611.10.2307/2392366Search in Google Scholar
Kehrberg, Jason E. (2017): “The Mediating Effect of Authoritarianism on Immigrant Access to TANF: A State-Level Analysis”, Political Science Quarterly 132(2): 291–311.10.1002/polq.12614Search in Google Scholar
Kelle, Udo; Kluge, Susann (2010): Vom Einzelfall zum Typus. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag.10.1007/978-3-531-92366-6Search in Google Scholar
Keller, Reiner (2011): Diskursforschung. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag.10.1007/978-3-531-92085-6Search in Google Scholar
KIDS COUNT (2019): KIDS COUNT Data Center from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Download at: www.datacenter.kidscount.org (access on 2.12.2020).Search in Google Scholar
Kim, Byungkyu; Fording, Richard C. (2010): “Second-Order Devolution and the Implementation of TANF in the U.S. States”, State Politics & Policy Quarterly 10(4): 341–367.10.1177/153244001001000404Search in Google Scholar
Kimberlin, Sara; Ramos-Yamamoto, Adriana (2019): The Trump Administration’s New ‘Public Charge’ Immigration Rule Will Push Thousands of Californians Into Poverty and Hurt the State’s Health and Economy. California Budget & Policy Center, Sacramento. Download at: https://calbudgetcenter.org/resources/trump-administrations-new-public-charge-immigration-rule-will-push-thousands-of-californians-into-poverty/ (access on 2.12.2020).Search in Google Scholar
Korteweg, Anna C. (2006): “The Construction of Gendered Citizenship at the Welfare Office: An Ethnographic Comparison of Welfare-to-Work Workshops in the United States and the Netherlands”, Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society 13(3): 314– 340.10.1093/sp/jxl005Search in Google Scholar
Krasner, Stephen D. (1983): International Regimes. Ithaca et al.: Cornell University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Lanfranconi, Lucia M. (2014): Geschlechtergleichstellung durch Wirtschaftsnutzendiskurs? Dissertation, University of Fribourg.Search in Google Scholar
Lanfranconi, Lucia M.; Chang, Yu‐Ling; Das, Aditi; Simpson, Paul J. (2020): “Equity versusequality: Discourses and practices within decentralized welfare‐to‐work programs in California”, Social Policy and Administration 54(6): 883–899.10.1111/spol.12599Search in Google Scholar
Levy, Jack S. (2008): “Case Studies: Types, Design, and Logics of Inference”, Conflict Management and Peace Science 25(1): 1–18.10.4135/9781473915480.n26Search in Google Scholar
Lodemel, Ivar, & Moreira, Amilcar (2014): Activation or Workfare? Governance and the Neo-Liberal Convergence (International Policy Exchange) (Illustrated ed.). Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199773589.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Martin, Edward J. (2009): “Reexamining Devolution”, Public Administration Quarterly 33(4): 635–659.Search in Google Scholar
Masters, N. Tatiana; Lindhorst, Taryn P.; Meyers, Marcia K. (2014): “Jezebel at the Welfare Office: How Racialized Stereotypes of Poor Women’s Reproductive Decisions and Relationships Shape Policy Implementation”, Journal of Poverty 18(2): 109–129.10.1080/10875549.2013.833159Search in Google Scholar
Nisbet, Elizabeth (2015): “Expanding the Field of View: The Role of Agricultural Employers in Street-Level Immigration Policy Implementation”, Administration & Society 50(8): 1097– 1124.10.1177/0095399715598339Search in Google Scholar
O’Shea, Tim; Ramón, Christobal (2018): Immigrants and Public Benefits: What Does the Research Say? Bipartisan Policy Center, Washington, D.C.Search in Google Scholar
Pena, Anita Alves (2014): “Undocumented Immigrants and the Welfare State: The Case of Regional Migration and U.S. Agricultural Labor”, Journal of Regional Science 54(1): 96– 113.10.1111/jors.12049Search in Google Scholar
Rass, Christoph; Wolff, Frank (2018): “What Is in a Migration Regime? Genealogical Approachand Methodological Proposal”, in: Andreas Pott; Christoph Rass; Frank Wolff (eds.): Wasist ein Migrationsregime? – What Is a Migration Regime? Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 19–64.10.1007/978-3-658-20532-4_2Search in Google Scholar
Reese, Ellen (2011): “Chapter 3: Challenging Welfare Racism – Cross-Racial Coalitions to Restore Legal Immigrants’ Benefits”, in: Ellen Reese: They Say Cutback, We Say Fight Back!Welfare Activism in an Era of Retrenchment. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 47–71.Search in Google Scholar
Rice, Deborah (2013): “Street-Level Bureaucrats and the Welfare State: Toward a Micro-Institutionalist Theory of Policy Implementation”, Administration & Society 45(9): 1038– 1062.10.1177/0095399712451895Search in Google Scholar
Saar, Maarja; Fröhlig, Florence; Runfors, Ann (2018): Welfare Negotiations Among Estonians Working in Sweden. Experiences, Barriers and Narrated Coping Strategies. NORFACE Welfare State Futures, Scientific Coordination Office, Berlin. WSF working papers TRANSWEL #1/2018.Search in Google Scholar
Sainsbury, Diane (2006): “Immigrants’ social rights in comparative perspective: welfare regimes, forms of immigration and immigrant policy regimes”, Journal of European Social Policy 16(3): 229–244.10.1177/0958928706065594Search in Google Scholar
Schmitt, Carina; Teney, Céline (2019): “Access to general social protection for immigrants in advanced democracies”, Journal of European Social Policy 29(1): 44–55.10.1177/0958928718768365Search in Google Scholar
Turgeon, Brianna (2018): “A Critical Discourse Analysis of Welfare-to-Work Program Managers’ Expectations and Evaluations of Their Clients’ Mothering”, Critical Sociology 44(1): 127– 140.10.1177/0896920516654555Search in Google Scholar
USCIS, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (2020): Public Charge Fact Sheet. Download at: https://www.uscis.gov/news/public-charge-fact-sheet (access on 2.12.2020).Search in Google Scholar
Vogue, Ariane de (2020): Supreme Court Denies Request to Suspend ‘public Charge’ Rule for Immigrants during Pandemic. CNN Politics, April 25, 2020. Downloaded at:www.cnn.com/2020/04/24/politics/supreme-court-public-charge-pandemic/index.html on 2.12.2020).Search in Google Scholar
Winker, Gabriele; Degele, Nina (2009): Intersektionalität. Bielefeld: transcript.10.1515/9783839411490Search in Google Scholar
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston, Germany
