tives of U.S. citizens seems to have broad support, even some of these immigrants have aroused misgivings. For instance, concern that sham marriages were being used to gain admission led to passage of the Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments of 1986. Under these amendments, an immigrant who is admitted based on his or her recent marriage to a U.S. citizen or permanent-resident alien receives a conditional visa and must show the Immigration and Naturalization Service that the marriage was and is still intact at the end of two-years, a condition that 94 percent of the cases reviewed in 1994 satisfied. A second concern has been use of Supplementary Security Income (SSI) benefits by immigrant parents of U.S. citizens. Without a history of work in the United States, most such immigrants are not eligible to receive earned Social Security retirement benefits, and SSI becomes an alternative source of income for some elderly people with few other resources. Partially in response to this concern, the recent welfare reform legislation has cut off immigrants' eligibility for SSI until they achieve citizenship.

Immigrants with family ties to U.S. citizens account not only for the majority of current immigrants, but also for the vast majority of those who are on waiting