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Civil
Rights
Non Citizens
Restoration of Eligibility for Food Stamps
On June 23, 1998, the President signed the Agriculture Research,
Extension, and Education Reform Act (S. 1150) that includes provisions
to restore food stamps to a quarter of a million legal immigrants
and refugees, effective November 1, 1998.
The provision, which would cost $816 million over
five years, would restore food stamps to about 250,000 legal
immigrants -- children, the elderly and the disabled -- who were
dropped from the program by the 1996 welfare overhaul law. in
1996. The measure would be paid for in large part through cuts
in what the federal government pays states to run the food stamp
program.
To qualify for the nutrition benefits, immigrants
must have been living in the United States on Aug. 22, 1996,
the day the President signed the welfare overhaul law. Those
who arrived after that date would not be entitled to food stamps.
In addition, elderly individuals must have been 65 or older on
that date; disabled individuals qualify regardless of when they
become disabled.
The measure would also enable refugees and people
who have received asylum in the United States to receive nutrition
benefits for seven years, instead of five.
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