For years, progressives have told the public that immigrants don’t want welfare.

Well, turns out, that’s a total lie.

The Washington Free Beacon reports:

Immigrants are more willing to accept government assistance programs than U.S.-born citizens, according to a new online study.

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Fifty-three percent of immigrants said they had already accepted welfare or were somewhat willing to accept it, while 48 percent of native-born citizens said the same.

“The [Survey of Income Program Participation] shows that households headed by immigrants use welfare at significantly higher rates than natives, even higher than indicated by other Census surveys,” said Steven Camarota, a director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies.

“Overall we found that in 2012 of all immigrants, legal and illegal, 51 percent of households accessed one or more of the major welfare programs, typically two or three at a time,” he said. Less than one-third, or 30 percent of native-born households used at least one welfare program in 2012.