The Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) published an opinion Tuesday telling states that if they receive federal food stamp and Social Security assistance, they are required to report the presence of known illegal immigrants to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
States participating in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs are required to report the presence of illegals to DHS, the opinion states. But it is not just the state or local agencies administering those programs that are required to report to DHS, but rather all agencies in the state, per a 1996 welfare reform law. “When a state chooses to participate in TANF, it accepts the obligation to report illegal aliens in the United States,” Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser of OLC stated in a Wednesday press release.




