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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 2017
Fear of deportation drives people off food stamps in US
By CLAUDIA TORRENS
and GISELA SALOMON
Associated Press
NEW YORK — A crack-
down on illegal immigra-
tion under President Donald
Trump has driven some poor
people to take a drastic step:
opt out of federal food assis-
tance because they are fearful
of deportation, activists and
immigrants say.
People who are not legal
residents of the U.S. are not
eligible to take part in what is
formally known as the Supple-
mental Nutrition Assistance
Program.
But many poor families
include a mix of non-legal res-
idents and legal ones, such as
children who have citizen-
ship because they were born
in the U.S. In those cases, it
is often an adult who is not a
legal resident who submits the
application.
Some now feel that is
too dangerous under a presi-
dent who has made immigra-
tion enforcement a priority.
Throughout the U.S., there are
accounts of people resisting
efforts of nonprofit organiza-
tions to sign them up for food
stamps, letting benefits lapse
or withdrawing from the pro-
gram because of the perceived
risk.
“They don’t want to put
their name and address on a
form for a government public
benefit out of fear that they’ll
be sought out and asked to
leave,” said Teresa Smith,
executive director of Catholic
Charities of Orange County,
California.
‘Less food’
The food stamp program
AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews
Rosa, an undocumented immigrant who wants her last
name withheld, pauses as she speaks during an interview
in New York in March. Rosa who used to get about $190
per month from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program or SNAP, stopped taking benefits fearing depor-
tation, and now gets by with the help of a local church and
some family members.
provides monthly payments,
typically about $125 per eli-
gible household member, to
poor families to buy essential
staples. Going without can be
an extreme decision, advocates
say.
“This means less food
in the table, fewer meals in
houses where the kids have
rights because they are U.S.
citizens,” said Andrew Ham-
mond, an attorney for Chica-
go’s Sargent Shriver National
Center on Poverty Law.
It is not possible to deter-
mine the extent of the phe-
nomenon. The number of food
stamp recipients has declined
as the U.S. recovers from the
Great Recession and peo-
ple could drop out for various
reasons.
A 52-year-old woman inter-
viewed in New York City, who
is in the country illegally, told
The Associated Press she was
motivated in January to drop
a benefit that was supporting
her teenage daughter, a U.S.
citizen, purely because she
was afraid of being in the food
stamp system, which requires
applicants to state their immi-
gration status.
“I had been told that it’s OK
to apply for food stamps. But,
for the moment, I don’t want
to take any risks,” said the
woman, who spoke on con-
dition of anonymity because
of her immigration status and
was introduced to AP through
an organization that helps
immigrants, the Mexican Coa-
lition of the South Bronx.
“I need it but I have peace
of mind because my case is
closed,” said the woman, who
makes $8.50 an hour clean-
ing houses and lives in small
apartment on the Lower East
Side of Manhattan.
A 29-year-old Hondu-
ran immigrant and single
mother with one child in Silver
Spring, Maryland, decided not
to renew the food stamps she
received when they expired
in January. “We fear depor-
tation,” said the 29-year-old
immigrant, who also spoke on
condition of anonymity and
was introduced to AP through
a local nonprofit. She nor-
mally earns about $350 per
week answering phones at a
travel agency but has been
working extra hours cleaning
homes to make up for the loss
of about $150 per month in
food stamps.
Mark Krikorian, a well-
known advocate for reducing
immigration to the U.S., said
their situation reflects the fact
that many people who come
to the country lack the skills to
earn enough money here. “It
is an attempted moral black-
mail to say ‘If you Americans
don’t give me your money, I
can’t stay here and feed my
children,’” he said. “Well, it’s
your choice. No one made you
sneak into the United States.”
3.9 million children
About 3.9 million citi-
zen children living with non-
citizen parents received food
stamps in the 2015 fiscal year,
the most recent available data,
according to the Department
of Agriculture, which admin-
isters the food stamp program.
The Department of Agricul-
ture says a lower percentage of
noncitizens who qualify for
the program known as SNAP
have historically used the ben-
efit than citizens because of
an incorrect perception that it
could affect their immigration
status or hurt their chances of
becoming a U.S. citizen.
“It is important for non-cit-
izens to know they will not be
deported, denied entry to the
country, or denied permanent
status because they apply for
or receive SNAP benefits,” the
agency says on its website.
Driving the most recent
fears about the program is
an increase in immigration
enforcement.
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement arrested nearly
40 percent more people sus-
pected of being in the coun-
try illegally in the first 100
days under Trump than in the
same period a year earlier. The
agency said nearly 75 per-
cent of them had been con-
victed of criminal offenses but
“non-criminal arrests” were up
by more than 150 percent.
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TEHRAN, Iran — The Islamic State group claimed respon-
sibility today for a pair of stunning attacks on Iran’s parliament
and the tomb of its revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Kho-
meini, which killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 40.
The bloodshed shocked the country and came as emboldened
Sunni Arab states — backed by U.S. President Donald Trump —
are hardening their stance against Shiite-ruled Iran.
In recent years, Tehran has been heavily involved in conflicts
in Syria and Iraq against the Islamic State, but had remained
untouched by IS violence around the world. Iran has also battled
Saudi-backed Sunni groups in both countries.
Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard indirectly blamed Saudi
Arabia for the attacks. A statement issued today stopped short
of alleging direct Saudi involvement but called it “meaningful”
that the attacks followed Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, where he
strongly asserted Washington’s support for Riyadh.
The statement said Saudi Arabia “constantly supports” terror-
ists including the Islamic State group, adding that the IS claim
of responsibility “reveals (Saudi Arabia’s) hand in this barbaric
action.”
The “spilled blood of the innocent will not remain unavenged,”
the Revolutionary Guard statement said.
White House looks for ways to
undermine Comey’s credibility
WASHINGTON — With fired FBI Director James Com-
ey’s highly anticipated congressional testimony just a day away,
the White House and its allies are scrambling for ways to offset
potential damage.
Asked Tuesday about the testimony, President Donald Trump
was tight-lipped: “I wish him luck,” he told reporters.
Comey’s testimony Thursday before the Senate intelligence
committee could expose new details regarding his discussions
with Trump about the federal investigation into Russia’s election
meddling.
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WASHINGTON — A day before a Senate panel hears for-
mer FBI Director James Comey’s first public account of his dra-
matic firing, lawmakers will question senior members of Presi-
dent Donald Trump’s national security team about surveillance
law and are expected to ask whether the president has tried to
influence ongoing investigations into Russia’s election meddling
and possible coordination with the Trump campaign.
Two of the four national security executives scheduled to tes-
tify before the Senate intelligence committee today were report-
edly asked by Trump to publicly state that there was no evidence
of collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign. Director
of National Intelligence Dan Coats has declined to answer ques-
tions about this publicly. And House Armed Services committee
lawmakers did not raise the issue when National Security Agency
Director Adm. Mike Rogers recently appeared before a subcom-
mittee hearing on cyber issues.
The back-to-back hearings come as the White House grapples
with the fallout from Comey’s firing, which led to the appoint-
ment of a special counsel to take over the Russia investiga-
tion in an effort to prevent even the appearance of Oval Office
interference.
Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election, and ensuing
congressional and FBI investigations into Moscow’s ties with
Trump associates has dogged the president since he took office.
White House officials had weighed trying to block Comey
from testifying on Thursday by arguing that his discussions with
the president pertained to national security and that there was an
expectation of privacy. However, officials ultimately concluded
that the optics of taking that step would be worse than the risk of
letting the former FBI director testify freely.
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WORLD IN BRIEF
Senators to ask about Trump
pushback on Russia investigation
Immigrant advocates see
the aversion to food stamps
as a reflection of a climate of
fear that drives people in the
country illegally deeper under-
ground, which in some cases
also makes them reluctant to
report crimes.
“We should care if peo-
ple are afraid to interact with
institutions that all of us rely
on for our health and well-be-
ing,” said Tanya Broder, senior
attorney at the National Immi-
gration Law Center.
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A man hands a child to a security guard from Iran’s parlia-
ment building after an assault of several attackers, in Teh-
ran, Iran, today. Suicide bombers and gunmen stormed
into Iran’s parliament and targeted the shrine of Ayatol-
lah Ruhollah Khomeini on Wednesday, killing a security
guard and wounding several other people in rare twin at-
tacks, with the siege at the Legislature still underway.
Comey could also bring up other aspects of his dealings with
the Trump administration. On Tuesday evening a person familiar
with the situation said Comey had told Attorney General Jeff Ses-
sions that he did not want to be left alone with Trump.
The person, who was not authorized to discuss the matter by
name and spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated
Press the comment was made because of concerns Comey had
about Trump.
Woman accused of leak made
pro-climate, anti-Trump posts
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Before she was charged with leaking U.S.
government secrets to a reporter, Reality Leigh Winner shared
sometimes scathing opinions on President Donald Trump and his
policies for the whole world to see.
The 25-year-old U.S. government contractor has worked
since February in Augusta, Georgia, for a federal agency that nei-
ther prosecutors nor her defense lawyer will name and where she
had access to sensitive documents. But the secretive nature of her
job didn’t stop Winner from speaking freely on politics and other
topics on social media accounts accessible to anyone.
She posted on Facebook three months ago that climate change
is a more important issue than health care “since not poisoning an
entire population seems to be more in line with ‘health’ care, and
not the disease care system that people voted for a soulless gin-
ger orangutan to ‘fix.’”
Winner remained locked up Tuesday on federal charges that
she made copies of classified documents containing top-secret
material and mailed them to an online news organization. She
was scheduled to appear before a federal judge Thursday for a
detention hearing.
In her spare time, Winner lifted weights and taught the occa-
sional yoga class. She served six years in the Air Force before she
moved to Georgia early this year, according to her mother, Bil-
lie Winner-Davis. Reporters gathered Tuesday outside Winner’s
small, red-brick home in a neighborhood dotted with overgrown
yards and houses in disrepair.
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