PIP: An economist analyzed microdata from the 1970 and 1980 US Censuses to look the large differences in welfare recipiency within the immigrant population. During the 1970s the percentage of immigrants who received public assistance increased from 5.9-8.8% which was a greater increase than that of native borns (6.1-7.9%). Further the most recent immigrants tended to use the welfare system more in 1980 than in 1970. For example, in the 1970 census, only 6% of the most recent immigrants were on public assistance which grew 2.3% by 1980 (8.3% of most recent immigrants) whereas native use of public assistance grew 1.8%. Moreover welfare recipiency rose as did age in both censuses and this increase was more rapid than that for natives. Besides assimilation had a tendency to lead to public assistance rather than away from it, yet immigrant earnings were more likely to increase. Welfare recipiency across countries of origin varied widely (2% for Morocco and Taiwan to 25.8% for the Dominican Republic). Among European nations, 3.8% of Belgian immigrants depended on public assistance compared to a high of 13.4% for Spanish immigrants. In 1980, immigrants from Mexico and Central and South America, and the Caribbean received the most public assistance (12.4%, 8.9%, and 16.3% respectively) while those from Africa received the least (4.8%). Source country characteristics explained 70% of the variation of welfare recipiency rates across countries of origin. They included per capita gross national product, income inequality, distance from the US, and percent refugees. The Asians represented the largest immigrant cohort in both censuses (32.4% and 40.4% respectively). Continual changes in the source country composition of immigrants to the US should prompt somewhat lower welfare recipiency rates among those coming in the 1980s and 1990s compared to those coming in the 1970s.