USDA & Mexico Tell Illegal Immigrants No Need To Declare Illegal Status To Get U.S. Food Stamps

By Susan Duclos

Recap: Thursday it was reported that one of every five households in the United States is on food stamps, now known as “SNAP” (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and as of March 2013, enrollment in the food stamp program had soared 70 percent since Obama took office. Tuesday, April 23, 2013, the Washington Post reported the Obama administration  pays recruiters to sign people up for food stamps even giving them a monthly quota to hit.

As the highly controversial “gang of 8″ immigration amnesty proposal is debated among lawmakers in Washington DC, Judicial Watch releases documents detailing how the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is
working with the Mexican government to promote participation by illegal
aliens in the U.S. food stamp program.

The promotion of the food stamp program, now known as “SNAP” (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), includes a Spanish-language flyer provided to the Mexican Embassy by the USDA with
a statement advising Mexicans in the U.S. that they do not need to
declare their immigration status in order to receive financial
assistance.  Emphasized in bold and underlined, the statement reads, “You need not divulge information regarding your immigration status in seeking this benefit for your children.”

The documents came in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
request made to USDA on July 20, 2012.  The FOIA request sought: “Any
and all records of communication relating to the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP) to Mexican Americans, Mexican nationals, and
migrant communities, including but not limited to, communications with
the Mexican government.”

The documents obtained by Judicial Watch show that USDA officials are
working closely with their counterparts at the Mexican Embassy to
widely broaden the SNAP program in the Mexican immigrant community, with
no effort to restrict aid to, identify, or apprehend illegal immigrants
who may be on the food stamp rolls. In an email to Borjon Lopez-Coterilla and Jose Vincente of the Mexican Embassy,
dated January 26, 2012, Yibo Wood of the USDA Food and Nutrition
Service (FNS) sympathized with the plight of illegal aliens applying for
food stamps, saying, “FNS understands that mixed status households may
be particularly vulnerable.  Many of these households contain a
non-citizen parent and a citizen child.”

Who pays for the welfare benefits, including cash assistance, food assistance and Medicaid for illegal immigrants?

Native and legal immigrants do.

On average, the estimated federal income tax liability for natives is $6,522 and the liability on legal immigrants shoulders to pay for those welfare benefits for illegal aliens, is $4,660, according to a Center For Immigration Studies analysis of the March 2010-2011 current population survey.

Taking all this into account, is it really such a good idea for the Obama administration, via the USDA and Mexico, to be sending out flyers to the Mexican population telling them to sign up for food stamps regardless of legal status because they don’t have divulge whether that they are here illegally to receive taxpayer funded welfare benefits?