The full explanation
They include lawful permanent residents, people granted asylum, refugees, certain people paroled into the country for at least one year, people whose deportation is being withheld, Cuban and Haitian entrants and, in certain cases, people subjected to battery or extreme cruelty. The same law has exceptions and other conditions, so the definition alone does not say whether a person can receive a benefit.
An example
In a federal program's rules, Gloria reads that some benefits are only for "qualified aliens." She looks up the definition in the law and, to learn what it means for her family, asks a legal aid organization for a free appointment.
You will see it in…
- The rules of some federal public benefit programs
- The text of the federal law (8 U.S.C. 1641)
- Legal aid organizations' pages about benefits
