Quote:The average household headed by an immigrant (legal or illegal) costs taxpayers $6,234 in federal welfare benefits, which is 41 percent higher than the $4,431 received by the average native household. Some liberal sources try to dispute this claim by saying illegal immigrants can not go on welfare, but they get around that via their children, so the data is often skewed. They can also be claimed as dependents by legal residents. They just need to obtain an ITIN, which isn't difficult and isn't shared with any other agency.