Division of Health Policy & Administration, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
Program on Medicines and Public Health, School of Pharmacy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Transl Behav Med. 2021 Jun 17;11(6):1292-1294. doi: 10.1093/tbm/ibaa137.
Federal nutrition assistance programs, especially the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), are an important safety net for households in the USA. Although few immigrant households are eligible for SNAP, those who need the program are less likely to participate than nonimmigrant households. Documented barriers to participation include language challenges and anti-immigrant rhetoric. However, previous research indicates that when immigrant households do participate in SNAP, their young children experience less food insecurity and the household as a whole makes fewer tradeoffs between food and other necessities. The Public Charge Rule limits ability to obtain a green card based on participation in public assistance programs. A recent change to this rule added programs to include some noncash programs, including SNAP. Although the vast majority of immigrants who are subject to the Public Charge Rule are not eligible for SNAP, misunderstanding of the rule and fear threaten to reduce SNAP enrollment and consequently increase food insecurity in immigrant families. Spillover effects may occur for families not targeted by changes in the Public Charge Rule as well as decreasing access to other safety net programs that are not impacted by the proposed changes, such as The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and school meals programs. In order to support the food security of immigrant families in the USA, we recommend that the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State remove all non-cash safety net programs from the Public Charge Rule.
联邦营养援助计划，特别是补充营养援助计划（SNAP），是美国家庭的重要安全网。尽管很少有移民家庭有资格获得 SNAP，但与非移民家庭相比，需要该计划的移民家庭参与度较低。参与该计划存在一些障碍，包括语言挑战和反移民言论。然而，之前的研究表明，当移民家庭确实参与 SNAP 时，他们的幼儿食品不安全程度较低，家庭在食品和其他必需品之间的权衡也较少。公共负担规则限制了基于参与公共援助计划获得绿卡的能力。该规则的一项最新变更将一些非现金计划包括在内，其中包括 SNAP。尽管绝大多数受公共负担规则约束的移民不符合 SNAP 的条件，但对该规则的误解和担忧有可能会减少 SNAP 的注册人数，并因此增加移民家庭的粮食不安全状况。即使对于不受公共负担规则变化影响的家庭，也可能会产生溢出效应，此外，获得其他不受拟议变化影响的安全网计划（如妇女、婴儿和儿童特别补充营养计划（WIC）和学校餐食计划）的机会也会减少。为了支持美国移民家庭的粮食安全，我们建议国土安全部和国务院将所有非现金安全网计划从公共负担规则中删除。
