Whether and when persons who are present in the United States, but not U.S. citizens or nationals, may receive particular types of government assistance can be difficult to ascertain because of the various federal, state, and local laws governing their eligibility for such assistance. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) was enacted to establish "national policy with respect to welfare and immigration." With certain exceptions, PRWORA bars aliens who are not "qualified aliens" from receiving federal, state, or local "public benefits," and precludes qualified aliens from receiving federal "means-tested public benefits" for 5 or more years after they enter the United States in a qualified status. However, there are also a number of other federal, state, and local measures adopted prior to, or after, the enactment of PRWORA, some of which make different provisions for noncitizens' eligibility for particular benefits. The applications of these measures can raise complicated issues of constitutional law, statutory interpretation, and administrative law. Specifically, PRWORA permits (but does not require) states to 
determine, with certain exceptions and subject to certain restrictions, the eligibility of qualified aliens for TANF, social services block grants, and Medicaid, and for state public benefits; limit aliens' eligibility for "programs of general cash public assistance" furnished by states or localities, provided that any such limitations are not more restrictive than the limitations imposed under comparable federal programs; attribute the income and resources of the alien's sponsor(s) to the alien when determining aliens' eligibility for state public benefits; and provide state and local benefits to unauthorized aliens by enacting a measure subsequent to PRWORA's enactment that provides for such eligibility. Noncitizens' Rights to Equal Protection

The constitutional guarantee of equal protection applies to all "persons" within the United States, including aliens (regardless of their immigration status). Thus, measures governing eligibility for public benefits could potentially be subject to legal challenges if they treat aliens differently than citizens. Application to Federal Restrictions on Public Benefits

Because Congress's plenary power over immigration permits it to enact measures as to aliens that would be unconstitutional if applied to citizens, federal restrictions on noncitizens' eligibility for public benefits are subject to rational basis review, and have generally been upheld. Whether PRWORA Provides a Uniform Rule for States and Localities

Courts have reached differing conclusions about whether PRWORA provides a uniform rule regarding noncitizens' eligibility for public benefits, like that contemplated in Plyler . In other cases, the court has suggested that rational basis review is appropriate so long as the measure only distinguishes between classes of aliens, and does not distinguish between aliens and citizens. This means that state or local measures that purport to regulate immigration—by determining which aliens may enter or remain in the United States, or the terms of their continued presence—are, per se , preempted, regardless of whether Congress has legislated on the matter. Preemption by the INA or PRWORA

Measures that are not per se preempted as regulations of immigration can also be challenged on the grounds that they are expressly or impliedly preempted by federal statute. However, it also refers to "other similar benefit[s]," raising questions about whether particular types of assistance constitute federal, state, or local public benefits for purposes of PRWORA. More recently, similar questions have arisen as to what it means for professional licenses to be provided by a government agency or with appropriated funds. As noted previously, PRWORA does not affirmatively define federal means-tested public benefits . Conclusion

As the foregoing discussion illustrates, noncitizen eligibility for public benefits can raise complicated legal issues in part because of the various federal, state, and local statutes regarding such eligibility, and in part because the construction and application of these statutes can raise questions of constitutional law, statutory interpretation, and administrative law.
Whether and when noncitizens may receive particular types of government assistance can be difficult to ascertain because of the various federal, state, and local laws governing their eligibility for such assistance. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 was enacted to establish "national policy with respect to welfare and immigration." With certain exceptions, PRWORA bars aliens who are not "qualified aliens" from receiving federal, state, or local "public benefits," and also precludes qualified aliens from receiving "federal means-tested public benefits" for five or more years after they enter the United States in a qualified status. However, there are also a number of federal, state, and local measures adopted prior to, or after, PRWORA, some of which make different provisions for noncitizens' eligibility for particular benefits. The application of these measures can raise complicated issues of constitutional law, statutory interpretation, and administrative law.
The constitutional guarantee of equal protection applies to all "persons" within the United States, including aliens. Thus, measures governing eligibility for public benefits could be subject to legal challenge if they treat aliens differently than citizens. Because of Congress's plenary power over immigration, federal measures that distinguish between aliens and citizens will generally be upheld so long as they are rationally related to a legitimate government interest. State and local measures, in contrast, are generally subject to some type of heightened scrutiny, the degree of which can vary depending upon the benefit involved and the aliens' status. However, state and local measures that follow a "uniform rule" established by Congress could potentially receive the same deferential review afforded to federal measures. Courts have reached differing conclusions as to whether PRWORA establishes such a uniform rule. Courts have also disagreed as to whether measures that treat lawful nonimmigrant aliens differently from citizens are subject to the same level of scrutiny as those that distinguish between lawful immigrant aliens and citizens.
Questions can also arise as to whether particular state and local measures are preempted by federal law. Some states and localities, concerned about the presence of unauthorized aliens within their jurisdiction, have recently enacted measures which would define benefits or related terms more broadly than PRWORA does, and further restrict aliens' eligibility for them. Such measures could potentially be challenged on preemption grounds because the Constitution grants Congress the power to regulate immigration. State and local measures that purport to determine the conditions upon which aliens may enter or remain in the United States are, per se, preempted. Federal statutes can also preempt state and local measures by expressly prohibiting them, containing conflicting requirements, or occupying the field.
Moreover, in the application of particular measures, there have been questions about whether particular government programs, services, or types of assistance are benefits. For example, although PRWORA includes certain types of assistance within its definitions of public benefit, it also refers to "any other similar benefit." Parties have litigated whether particular assistance constitutes a benefit "similar" to those governed by PRWORA. They have also litigated whether PRWORA bars aliens from receiving benefits whose provision entails the expenditure of appropriated funds, even if the aliens themselves must pay a fee for the benefit; as well as what it means for a state to "affirmatively provide" for eligibility. Similarly, because PRWORA does not affirmatively define "federal means-tested public benefits," there has been debate about the degree of deference to be accorded to agency interpretations of this term as encompassing only five mandatory spending programs (e.g., Medicaid), and no discretionary spending programs.