Full Citation

Title: Save Our Senior Noncitizens: Extending Old Age Assistance to Immigrants in the United States, 1935–71

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2021

ISBN:

ISSN: 0145-5532

DOI: 10.1017/SSH.2020.40

NSFID:

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PMID:

Abstract: When do states grant social rights to noncitizens? I explore this question by examining the extension of Old Age Assistance (OAA) to noncitizens after the passage of the 1935 Social Security Act. While the act contained no alienage-based restrictions, states were permitted to bar noncitizens from means-tested programs. In 1939, 31 states had alienage restrictions for OAA. By 1971, when the Supreme Court declared state-level alienage restrictions unconstitutional, only eight states still did. States with more Mexicans and Asians were slower to repeal restriction, however. Using in-depth case studies of New York, California, and Texas, I demonstrate the importance of federal and state institutional arrangements and immigrant political power for the extension of social rights to noncitizens. I also show that to secure access to OAA, immigrant advocates adapted their strategies to match the institutional and political context.

Url: https://doi.org/10.1017/ssh.2020.40

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Fox, Cybelle

Periodical (Full): Social Science History

Issue: 1

Volume: 45

Pages: 55-81

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Aging and Retirement, Migration and Immigration

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