*“[In 1996] 21% of immigrants [were] receiving welfare payments, compared to 14% of citizens. Not only [was] there a higher percentage of immigrants on the welfare rolls, but they [received] more welfare dollars per person than citizens.”2 Immigrants currently account for about 65 percent of the growth in population in most developed countries, up from 45 percent during the 1990 – 95 period. The numbers for the United States are especially dramatic. Foreign-born persons—about 30 million—now account for nearly 11 percent of the U.S. population; this represents a doubling of the foreign-born population in the last twenty years.