In 2009 foreign-born residents were about 50% more likely to be poor than natives

More than three-quarters of foreign-born poor are non-citizens, a group that includes temporary workers, recently-arrived legals, and illegal aliens. Fully one-quarter of non-citizens lived in poverty in 2009. Naturalized citizens are the most rapidly growing slice of the immigrant poor. Their poverty population rose 10.1% in 2009. An analysis of Census Bureau survey data found that 33.9% of households headed by naturalized Mexican immigrants receive at least one major welfare program. By contrast, only 14.9% of native households receive any welfare. While Hispanics account for 16% of U.S. population, more than one-third of the total increase in the poverty population in 2009 occurred among Hispanics — mostly immigrants, their children and grandchildren. From 1989 to 2009 nearly 60% of the increase in the poverty population occurred among Hispanics. The Hispanic poverty rate (25.3%) is on a par with the black rate (25.8%).