President. I am today introducing legislation to close a loophole in the various federally funded public assistance programs. This legislation would amend the Social Security Act to prohibit the payment of welfare under State public assistance programs to illegal aliens. Unfortunately. no substantial data exists on the number of illegal aliens receiving welfare payments. The Department of Health. Education. and Welfare has been asked on numerous occasions to supply the Congress with these figures. but to date they have been unable to meet this request. While it may be true that aliens illegally enter the United States primarily for the purpose of obtaining employment at a higher wage scale than they could receive in their native land. it is also clear that many illegal aliens eventually end up on the welfare rolls. The legislation I now propose would prohibit these payments. and authorize the States to establish methods to screen out those illegal aliens who apply for public assistance. Over the past few years. the House Judiciary Committee has conducted hearings on the subject of illegal aliens. Last year 2 days of hearings were conducted in El Paso. Tex.
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illegal aliens