April 1, 2001

RESEARCH ON HUNGER IMPACTS OF FOOD STAMP CUTS TO LEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Pursuant to the 1996 welfare law, as of August 22, 1997 most needy legal immigrants lost eligibility for the federal Food Stamp Program. Some partial restorations were enacted in 1998. A new Urban Institute report reveals that hardship is greater for children of immigrants than for children of U.S. natives in three areas of basic need: food, housing and health care. The harmful effects of food stamp cuts on families' food security earlier were documented in separate studies by the California Food Policy Advocates (CFPA) (in conjunction with the Counties of San Francisco and Los Angeles) and by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). The findings are in line with anecdotal reports from food bankers and others on the front lines at emergency feeding sites. The findings also suggest that the partial restoration of benefits provided to certain vulnerable immigrants under the 1998 Agricultural Research Act did not go far enough in ensuring food security for immigrant households, including for children in such households.

Urban Institute Report on Hardship Among Children of Immigrants

On March 21, 2001, the Urban Institute released its report, "Hardship Among Children of Immigrants." Based on a nationally representative sample from the 1999 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF), it documents greater hardship among children of immigrants than among children of natives in three areas: food, housing, and health care. More specifically:

• Nationwide, 37 percent of all children of immigrants lived in families worried about or encountering difficulties affording food, compared with 27 percent of children of natives.
• Among eight states discussed in the Urban Institute brief, Texas, Florida, and Colorado have the highest shares of immigrant families with food concerns, and all three provide comparatively limited assistance for immigrants not eligible for federal food stamps.
• Children of immigrants are more than twice as likely as children of natives to live in families that pay more than 50 percent of their income in rent or mortgage.
• Children of immigrants are more than three times as likely as children of natives to lack a usual source of healthcare, and more than twice as likely to be in fair or poor health.

Physicians for Human Rights Survey

A PHR study released May 7, 1998 identified a high prevalence of food insecurity and hunger among legal immigrants. Using USDA's Food Security Instrument interviewed nearly 700 immigrant households in California, Illinois and Texas.

• PHR found food insecurity rates nearly seven times worse than that of the general U.S. population.
• Seventy-nine percent of households were food insecure and more than one in three households reported suffering from food insecurity with moderate or severe hunger caused by a lack of resources.
• Over eight percent of the households suffered from severe hunger, more than 10 times the prevalence in the general population.

Households suffering from food insecurity have reduced the nutritional quality or overall quantity of food they eat because of lack of resources to purchase food. Households reporting moderate or severe hunger have been forced to cut the food intake of adults and children in the household.

CFPA/ L.A./ San Francisco Study on Immigrant Hunger

A study released May 27, 1998 by CFPA and the Counties of Los Angeles and San Francisco showed an alarmingly high rate of hunger among children in legal immigrant households where food stamps had been cut. Even though the state of California had provided state-funded benefits to children, children in immigrant families were not been protected from these negative impacts; most lived in households that were experiencing very high and worsening rates of food insecurity and severe hunger.

• Legal immigrant households whose food stamps had been cut were experiencing significantly more hunger than those who did not face benefit cuts.

By March 1998, immigrant households that were cut off food stamps were more likely to experience the most serious food problems—food insecurity with severe hunger—than those who were not: (30% more likely in Los Angeles, 173% more likely in San Francisco).

• Children living in immigrant households where food stamps had been cut were suffering from very high rates of hunger.

By March 1998, in Los Angeles impacted (i.e. food stamps cut) households with children were one third more likely to experience the most serious food problems—food insecurity with severe hunger—than similar immigrant households not impacted by the food stamp cuts. An estimated 69,000 children whose immigrant parent(s) lost food stamps were experiencing food insecurity with moderate to severe hunger. This reflected an increase of 9,000 children from November 1997 to March 1998. In San Francisco, in January 1998, one third (33%) of the impacted households with children were experiencing moderate or severe hunger. Children living in households where at least one adult had lost food stamps were 35% more likely to experience moderate to severe hunger than those living in non-impacted households.

• All legal immigrant households were experiencing high levels of food insecurity and hunger, which worsened between November 1997 and March 1998.

In Los Angeles, by March 1998, half (50%) of the impacted (i.e. benefits cut) group experienced household food insecurity with moderate or severe hunger, an increase of 8% since November 1997. This hunger rate was four times higher than that found by the Current Population Survey (CPS) in a low-income sample of the U.S. population in 1995. In San Francisco, by January 1998, almost one third (32%) of the impacted group experienced household food insecurity with moderate or severe hunger. This hunger rate was two and one half times higher than that found by the Census bureau in a low-income sample of the U.S. population in 1995. Adult (i.e. no children) food stamp households in San Francisco who lost food stamp benefits fared very badly- -the severe hunger rate among this group was over five times higher than was found in adult households that were not cut.

• Report Policy Recommendations: Full Restoration of Food Stamps

Although immigrant children retained eligibility for food stamp benefits under the state program then in place, many of these children lived in "mixed" households where the adult heads of household lost benefits. An estimated 138,000 children — including 100,000 citizen children — in Los Angeles County lived in a household where at least one adult member lost food stamps. At the time they released the report, the authors predicted: "A partial legal immigrant restoration, such as that contained in the current California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) and the federal Agricultural Research Conference Report bill (S. 1150, still pending in the House) will not go far enough. Full restoration of food stamps to all impacted immigrant households is needed to more adequately protect vulnerable populations from needless hunger."