Section 9 · Version 1.0 LOCKED
Cash Welfare / Income
Key findings
SSI is the cleanest cash line because SSA publishes noncitizen recipient counts directly: 365,714 noncitizens in December 2021, equal to 4.8% of recipients, at a lower average payment than citizens.
Using the published noncitizen recipient count and average monthly payment, the audit computes approximately $2.21B per year on the Dec. 2021 basis.
TANF, EITC, and ACTC/CTC mostly route to Section 13 because they are citizen-child-dominated or unpublished by status.
SSI is direct cash, so provider capture is minimal. This makes SSI the rare domestic component where Total B is determinate and approximately equal to Total A.
SSI computation
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Noncitizen recipients | 365,714 |
| Share of recipients | 4.8% |
| Average monthly noncitizen payment | $503.75 |
| Annualized computed amount | ≈ $2.21B |
Routed to Section 13
TANF non-citizen dollars, EITC, ACTC, and CTC pathways are not converted into counted totals here where citizenship-status or citizen-child separation is not published in the needed form. They are documented as gaps rather than estimated.
Plain English Bottom Line
SSI is the measurable cash-welfare lane because SSA publishes the needed noncitizen data. The result is approximately $2.21B per year on the Dec. 2021 basis. Other cash or tax-credit programs are not assigned invented non-citizen dollar shares.