SRS Food Stamp Policy Change Called Appalling and Shocking

BY Debra Decoster

Families suffering through the economic downturn have struggled to put food on the table and have relied on the state’s Food Stamp Assistance program to purchase fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and meat for their children.

The news that SRS {Social and Rehabilitation Services} was denying food stamps to families where the parents were undocumented but the children were legal citizens has left those parents wondering how they are going to provide for their children.

The Kansas Food Bank states that Kansas has the seventh highest percentage of residents who are either cutting back on the quantity and quality of food or skipping meals entirely. They are not skipping meals to save money; it is because they have no money to purchase the food their families need. In a state that already has over 100,000 children going hungry, the new policy will increase those numbers.

State Representative Louis Ruiz, 32nd House District, is appalled by the new policy. “The SRS policy change eliminates benefits, food stamp assistance for the children of undocumented parents. These children are entitled to the benefits under the law, the children are legal citizens, but they are being denied because their parents are undocumented.”

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has said publicly that he will review the policy. Brownback, whose stated goal is to end children’s hunger in the state of Kansas, did not respond to Hispanic News questions for this article.

Ruiz has been working to get answers from Attorney General Derek Schmidt on how SRS made the decision and how he and others in the state capitol can reverse the policy.

“There should be an outcry because when you hit people’s children it should not be tolerated, that is very low by anybody. These kids are suffering and they are entitled to benefits by the fourteenth amendment and I am questioning the constitutionality of that decision,” said Ruiz.

Hispanic News talked to SRS Communication Director Angela de Rocha who preferred to answer our questions via email.

Hispanic News asked de Rocha to explain the impetus behind the policy change and whether SRS had allowed families in a mixed-status household to receive food stamps assistance before?

De Rocha’s email response is a follows (Editor’s note – the emphasis is de Rocha’s) “Yes, SRS did and continues to allow families in mixed-status household to receive food stamps. THE POLICY WAS CHANGED BECAUSE IT DISCRIMINATED AGAINST FAMILIES MADE UP ENTIRELY OF AMERICAN CITIZENS by providing a higher level of benefits to households that included one or more individuals who declined to provide proof of their legal presence in the United States.”

Hispanic News asked whether the agency is aware of the perception that the policy appears to be directed at Latino immigrant families and whether the agency had a response that would alleviate those fears?

De Rocha replied, “Eligibility is determined by household income and household income only. To claim people are being “targeted unfairly” is to assert that it is acceptable to deny American citizen children food stamps, based on their parents’ incomes, if their parents are American citizens, but that it is not acceptable to deny American citizen children food stamps, based on their parents’ incomes if their parents are in the country illegally. What SRS has ceased to do is provide preferential treatment to any household in Kansas. Households that qualify for food stamps do and will continue to receive them.”

Melinda Lewis, Public Policy consultant for El Centro, Inc. has reviewed the policy and has read some of the letters that Hispanic families have received.

“It took us awhile to exactly figure out what they were doing when we saw these families coming in with their letters. They don’t count every member of the household. They can’t count and don’t count every member of the household. The people who are not citizens, they don’t exist for purposes of determining how many members are in the family,” she said.

According to Lewis, the letters and the wording of the new policy makes it difficult for families to figure out if they can qualify for the program.

“The rule itself has made it harder for these citizen kids in immigrant households to be able to receive food stamps. SRS sends these letters out to people which say ‘food assistance case closed for non-citizen status.’ This is not accurate first of all, and secondly sends a message to our entire community that if you are an immigrant parent with citizen children you are somehow not eligible to receive this important assistance,” said Lewis.

In her responses de Rocha said, “the previous policy did not count 100 percent of the household income in determining eligibility for food stamps in households with members who did not provide proof of legal status. It only counted a portion of their income while counting 100 percent of the household income of families in which all members are American citizens. The new policy takes into account only household income and no longer provides a more generous benefit to mixed-status households than is provided to households made up entirely of U.S. citizens.”

Rocha’s response continues, “the old policy said it is NOT okay to deny American citizen children food stamps if their parents are in the country illegally, but it IS okay to deny American citizen children food stamps if their parents are American citizens. Under the old policy, 106,000 Kansas citizen households would have been eligible to receive food stamps had their eligibility been determined the same way it was determined for households with members who could not prove they were in the country legally.”

“We have U.S. citizen kids who have lost their food stamp benefits and we have U.S. citizens whose parents won’t apply for food stamps for them because they are afraid,” said Lewis. “They fear because of these letters that their children would never be eligible so we have a double impact on the hunger and the well- being of these citizen children because of the way SRS has pursued this rule. Most people see it as an effort to make life miserable and difficult for immigrant parents by going after their children. They are hitting people where they are most vulnerable … their children. In the food stamp policy, there wasn’t anything to take away from the immigrant parents, they were never getting any benefit in the first place.”

Father Jerry Spencer, pastor at Holy Name Catholic Church, in Kansas City, Kansas is aware of the policy change and although he doesn’t know how many families it affects directly in his parish, he has seen a steady stream of people asking for assistance.

“It is a very alarming situation and it is going to impact a lot of people in our community,” he said.

Parish members work at a local food kitchen on the fourth Thursday of the month and the number of people they serve each month is over 500. Father Spencer is heartbroken to see children come to his church or to the school hungry.

“They are very vulnerable in this situation and that is the tragic part of this. Adults will find a way to cope and find a way to survive, but the children are dependent upon the adults for their food. There has been a recent push to serve nutritional food to the children in the school cafeterias. Whether they attend public or private schools, all administrators realize nutrition is essential to the learning process. When a kid’s stomach is growling because he is hungry it is very hard for him to concentrate. He doesn’t have the mental and physical energy to put into his studies,” said Father Spencer.

The school serves breakfast and lunch and seventy percent of students are on the reduced lunch program. Denise Perry, principal at Holy Name Catholic School, was upset when she learned of the new policy and infuriated enough to write a letter to state legislators expressing her dismay.

“I don’t know who this new policy impacts [at our school] and for me as an educator that is really difficult because we want to do everything to help our students. We need these kids to come here well fed, and we need to see that they have food so they will do better in school. Our whole outlook here is to see that these children succeed, and I feel that sometimes we are failing them if they can’t be properly fed,” said Perry.