Authored by Troy Myers via The Epoch Times,
States must alert the federal government to known illegal immigrants when they opt into receiving certain federal welfare benefits, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday.
The move withdraws a 1998 DOJ opinion and clarifies that under a 1996 welfare-reform law - the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act - all state agencies, including those that administer welfare funding, have the duty to report individuals unlawfully in the United States to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
According to the new Office of Legal Counsel opinion, which was issued Sept. 1, states risk losing funds for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Supplemental Security Income programs if they do not comply.
"Congress wrote this requirement plainly," said Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser of the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel.
"When a state chooses to participate in TANF, it accepts the obligation to report illegal aliens in the United States."
States that do not alert DHS to unlawful individuals attempting to obtain welfare thus encourage illegal immigration and take tax dollars away from U.S. citizens, Gaiser said in a statement.
The previous Clinton-era interpretation of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, which is now reversed, limited states'
