Charmain Guerra-Phillip has heard
the rumors in the immigrant community: These days, applying for food stamps can
get you deported, people say. And even if you’re here legally, it can hurt your
chances of obtaining citizenship.
But she has children to feed and her
part-time job isn’t paying the bills. So there she was at the North Fulton
Community Charities, putting on a brave face and reapplying.
“I’m not fearful at all,” said
Guerra-Phillip, who has legal status and therefore is eligible to receive the
government assistance. If worse comes to worst, she added, “God got me.”
Some immigrants who are here
legally, however, say they have been spooked
by a political climate they see as hostile,
and they are thinking twice about applying for food stamps. Some are dropping
the federally funded benefits by not reapplying for them, according to metro
Atlanta service providers.
The immigrants’ concerns about
deportation and citizenship appear to be unsubstantiated. And while charity
agencies say they are still seeing numerous immigrants sign up for food stamps,
the Trump administration’s stepped-up rhetoric and enforcement has sowed
concern. So some are hunkering down, avoiding government aid.
“They’re all scared,” said Darlene
Duke, executive director of the Sweetwater Mission in Austell. She has seen
“significantly fewer” immigrants applying for food stamps. “They’re concerned
about anything they do that can raise a red flag. They’re laying low.”
Controversy over food stamps
Food stamps often spark controversy, especially when it comes to who deserves them. Some people complain immigrants have easy access to such
government benefits.
Unauthorized immigrants are not
eligible for food stamps, but some critics say these immigrants receive the
benefits through their citizen children. Such critics, in general, welcome a
decrease in the number of immigrants receiving food stamps.
Nearly half of all immigrant-headed
households with children — 45.3 percent — use a food assistance program,
according to a recent analysis by the National Academies of Sciences.
“If some illegal aliens are ending
their dependence on American welfare benefits because they are worried about
enforcement, it underscores that President Trump is re-instituting a respect
for the rule of law,” said Phil Kent, a member of the Georgia Immigration
Enforcement Review Board. “Sounds like a win-win.” He added, “The large
majority of American taxpayers will not object to watching it decline.”
President Donald Trump’s urgency to crack down on illegal immigration has frightened even immigrants who are here legally.
In January, he signed a pair of
executive orders that prioritize the deportation of more people, and that begin the process for building a new wall on the
southwest border and hiring 10,000 more immigration enforcement officers.
Another order, drafted but not
signed, would limit food stamps to immigrants and make those who receive them
subject to possible deportation.
Legal immigrants say they worry that
if they receive food stamps, the government will not view them as a productive
person and reject their request for citizenship. Trump himself pointed to such
thinking during an address to Congress, saying, “It’s a basic principal that
those seeking to enter a country ought to be able to support themselves
financially. Yet, in America we do not enforce this rule, straining the very
public resources that our poorest citizens rely on.”
Despite the escalating fears, the
policy surrounding immigrants and food stamps has not changed. Food stamps are
not used as a factor in deciding whether to grant green cards or citizenship.
In addition, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials emphasize they
do not carry out random raids. Further, in 2011, ICE adopted a “sensitive
locations” policy — still in effect today — that discourages enforcement at
churches and similar locations. During the Obama administration, that policy
was interpreted to apply to places that distribute food aid, said John Sandweg,
the agency’s former acting director.
Concern rising with the summer
Concern is rising with the coming of
summer, when many immigrant children leave the schools where they receive free
and reduced-price lunches. After that, the responsibility of feeding the child
falls on the parents. If they forego food stamps, the children may suffer, said
Sara Berney, executive director of Wholesome Wave Georgia, a nonprofit that
signs up people for food stamps.
“In the summer there is a much
greater possibility that children will be going without food during the day,”
said Berney, whose group helps people obtain healthy food.
Households with unauthorized parents
and citizen children are the most nervous and the quickest to say no to food
stamps, said Ana Calderon, who helps immigrants obtain food stamps at the North
Fulton charity office. Those who do fill out an application, often do so with
trepidation.
“That someone will report you,” said
an undocumented Hispanic woman who stopped in to the North Fulton charity
office to apply for food stamps and Medicaid for her two girls.
The woman, who asked that her name
not be used, said she crossed the Mexican border some 18 years ago. Her two
children are here legally. Sitting with her pink folder opened and all her
personal information on the table, the woman, who is married, says she fears
this could lead to her being deported. Worse would be leaving her two children
behind.
But, she said, her family needs the
help.
Since December, the North Fulton
office has seen a decline in food stamp as well as Medicaid applications by
Hispanics. Overall, the figure has dropped from an annual total of 113
applications this time last year to 96 currently, a 15 percent decrease. This
month alone, applications have been down by half from a year ago.
Exactly how many immigrants are
avoiding food stamps remains unknown. At least one charity, Hosea Helps in
Atlanta, has seen its immigrant clientele all but disappear. Elisabeth Omilami,
who runs the charity, said it took years for her group to build a relationship
with the immigrant community. A year ago she was serving dozens of those
families, helping them with food, clothing and access to food stamps.
“This year we’re not seeing any
people,” she said. “They’re not coming to apply and renew (food stamps).
They’re not coming out for the food jamborees.”
She’s convinced the need remains. So
recently her group took a truckload of food, clothing and supplies out to
Clarkston, a community with many immigrants. Some 200 families came out for the
help, which included signing up numerous people for food stamps, she said.
Don’t feel they can trust government
Several other Atlanta area
humanitarian groups reported similar experiences this year. For example, the
adult caregivers for a pair of unaccompanied Central American children declined
to register for food stamps this year, said Frances McBrayer, senior director
of refugee resettlement services at Catholic Charities Atlanta. Both adults,
she said, lack legal status.
Meanwhile, significantly fewer of
the Latin American Association’s Mexican and Central American clients have been
signing up for the benefits since January, including the parents of U.S.
citizen children, said Cynthia Roman, managing director of family well-being
for the association. Some have been asking whether their information will be shared
with federal immigration officials.
“They don’t feel they can trust in
the government. They are really scared to seek help,” Roman said. “They are
really clear that this new administration is not welcome to immigrants.”
The Buckhead Christian Ministry —
which feeds and clothes needy families — has seen substantially fewer Hispanic
clients this year, said Donna Smythe, the organization’s interim president.
“We know it is not because they
don’t need us,” she said. “The environment has suddenly become very fearsome —
hostile. And they are deeply concerned.”
Food stamps
• About 1.8 million Georgians
received SNAP benefits in federal fiscal year 2015.
• About 1.7 million were U.S.
born-citizens, making up more than 95 percent of all SNAP recipients in the
state.
• 1 percent were naturalized
citizens, or about 17,000 people.
• About 2,000 were refugees,
representing less than 1 percent of the SNAP users.
• About 1.5 percent — 22,000 people
— were identified as “other noncitizens.”
• 2.5 percent, or 97,000, were
citizen children living with noncitizens.
Source: U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service.
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