This week, in our RhodyVotes ’16 election coverage, we aired a conversation with Republicans about why they do, or do not, support Donald Trump. One piece of the conversation ended up on the cutting room floor, but it raised interesting questions about immigration. We’re going to spend a few minutes discussing those comments now.
During the taping of our roundtable discussion with Republicans, Donald Trump’s Rhode Island Campaign Chairman, State Representative Joe Trillo, raised the issue of illegal immigration. This happened within the first couple of minutes of the conversation. He was responding to a question about Trump’s appeal from RIPR’s Morning Host Chuck Hinman.
Chuck Hinman: Now you’ve worked with a lot of supporters in RI, what is it about his message they are responding to here in this state?
Joe Trillo: Trump has singled out all the problems that are ailing the country and ailing the state. He started with illegal immigration. Illegal immigration’s a major problem on a national level, but it’s a major problem in Rhode Island. It’s draining our resources. We’re spending about two point something billion dollars on health and human services budget, and I believe 20 percent of people in Rhode Island are on some form of government assistance.
Trillo is right, the state spends about $2.5 billion on health and human services. And roughly one in three Rhode Islanders receives some benefits. But taken as a whole, this statement seems to suggest that undocumented immigrants are driving those numbers, which health and human services officials and other experts believe is inaccurate.
I called Rep. Trillo for clarification, and he said that’s not what he meant. He said the comment was intended to convey that undocumented immigrants are part of the spending. When pressed on this point during the studio recording, Trillo had this to say:
Chuck Hinman: So, Joe, not all of those people receiving benefits are illegal immigrants.
Joe Trillo: No, but if you look at the benefits program in Rhode Island, they can’t ask the people whether they’re illegal or not. We’re giving people subsidized housing, we’re giving them free health care, we’re giving them free daycare and we’re subsidizing their housing too.
Trillo may be overstating this point. The State Office of Health and Human Services can and does require proof of citizenship or at least legal residency for benefits like Medicaid and food stamps. Rhode Island Public Radio health care reporter Kristin Gourlay has done a lot of reporting on the health and human services system, so I asked her to explain how the application process works.
“To get benefits like Medicaid and food stamps, the form asks for a social security number,” Gourlay told me, holding up a large stack of papers that make up the application for benefits. “The state then uses your social security number to verify things like age and income. If you are not a citizen, and don’t have a social security number, you can still qualify for benefits. But you have to show documentation of your legal immigration status. And you have to live in the state for five years before you even qualify for most benefits.”
The bottom line is that it’s not that easy to qualify for benefits like Medicaid — you have to fill out a stack of complex forms, and provide a lot of documents. It’s a process that even native Rhode Islanders find complicated to navigate. And undocumented immigrants are simply not eligible for the benefit that makes up the vast majority of state spending in this area, which is Medicaid.
Now we should say that a person can apply for benefits using a false social security number, and that does happen. The Office of Health and Human Services tells me they believe the instances of fraud in this area are relatively small.
But Trillo is right when he says that undocumented people are getting state benefits. One benefit he didn’t mention is public education. Rhode Island public schools enroll any student who is a resident, and they don’t ask questions about immigration status.
Trillo’s claim about daycare benefits is half true. You can qualify for a daycare subsidy if your child is a citizen or legal resident, even if you are undocumented.
It’s also possible that a person in this country without immigration papers could benefit from state assistance received by another member of the household, one who is a citizen or legal resident. For example, food stamps awarded to one person would benefit all members of the household. The same could be said for unemployment of disability payments that help a family stay on their feet when one adult is out of work.
Pregnant women are an exception to the rule that undocumented immigrants are ineligible for state benefits. They can receive prenatal care for a limited period of time, and state officials tell me the free medical care ends two months after the baby is born.
From a cost perspective, emergency services are another area to consider.
“When you go to the emergency room they treat you no matter what,” said RIPR’s Kristin Gourlay. “If you don’t have insurance, or you can’t afford to pay for the treatment, the hospital might set up a payment plan for you or classify the treatment as charity care.”
Hospitals end up paying for some of that care, and the state does reimburse hospitals for thousands of dollars in care each year, so that’s another way that undocumented residents may be costing the state money.
To sum up, Trillo has a point when he says undocumented immigrants contribute to state spending on health and human services. They can receive emergency medical services and prenatal care. They can also enroll in public schools and qualify for in-state tuition at public colleges and universities, although they cannot apply for financial aid.
But it’s important to keep all of this in perspective. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for the majority of state health and human services programs, and the population of undocumented immigrants, both statewide and nationwide, is relatively small. In Rhode Island, the most recent numbers from the Pew Research Center, estimate roughly 30,000 undocumented immigrants – about 3 percent of the total state population.