Immigrant Families Faced Multiple Barriers to Safety Net Programs in 2021

This brief assesses the hardships and barriers to safety net programs immigrant families face using data from the Urban Institute’s Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey, a nationally representative survey conducted in December 2021. The findings highlight the unmet needs of immigrant families and their ongoing exclusion from basic safety net supports. They face barriers encountered by all program applicants, but these are further complicated by policy and practice impacting immigrant communities specifically, such as the threat of immigration enforcement and language access gaps.