California became the first state in the nation to extend benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to undocumented immigrants after passing the Human Right to Food Act in 2023. But the expansion, which is slated to start in 2025, will only apply to people aged 55 and older.
Now the legislature is considering two bills, AB 311 and SB 245, which would make all income-eligible residents eligible for SNAP benefits (once known as food stamps) regardless of their age and immigration status. Advocates for the proposed legislation, called Food4All, are rallying for support today at the Immigrant Day of Action in Sacramento. The bill is co-sponsored by the California Immigrant Policy Center and Nourish California and is part of a package of proposed legislation aimed at expanding the social safety net for undocumented immigrants, including health care and unemployment benefits.
The proposed SNAP expansion follows the passage of the Human Right to Food Act, which declared that every person has the right to sufficient and healthy food.
California has made strides in improving the lives of immigrants in recent years, but food insecurity remains a problem, says Assemblymember and bill co-author Miguel Santiago, a Democrat from district 54 in Los Angeles.
“Especially if you’re undocumented, there’s nowhere to go for any public assistance,” Santiago says. Fifty-seven percent of undocumented Californians have incomes at or below 200% of the poverty line, the typical threshold for qualifying for CalFresh, the state’s SNAP program.
Overall in California, 47% of Latinos went without enough food in 2022, according to a UCLA Center for Health Policy Research survey. Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks, estimates that in Bay Area counties, between 10-11% of Latinos experienced food insecurity in 2021.
The need is getting bigger and the path to citizenship for immigrants is just getting harder and longer and more expensive.
KAREN MCBRIDE, BAY AREA COMMUNITY RESOURCES
The problem is worsening, according to Karen McBride, a program manager with Bay Area Community Resources, a local nonprofit, and one of the organizers of the East County Resource Coalition, which provides weekly public services to East Contra Costa County residents and runs the West Pittsburg Community Church food pantry. She has noticed an increased need for food assistance where she works, with hundreds of people lining up at the West Pittsburg Community Church food pantry hours before they open their doors to ensure they get food, she says.
“The need is getting bigger,” says McBride. “And the path to citizenship for immigrants is just getting harder and longer and more expensive.”
Benyamin Chao, Health & Public Benefits Policy Manager at the California Immigrant Policy Center, a co-sponsor of the Food4All campaign, says that excluding immigrants under the age of 55 leaves a major gap in food assistance.
“Our ultimate goal is for everyone in California who needs it to be able to get food. We still have a long way to go, which is why we are continuing to push for all ages,” says Chao.
Meanwhile, undocumented people 55 and older must rely on resources like food banks until the expansion of CalFresh takes effect. Maria Medina, a 76-year-old Mexican immigrant who has been living in Bay Point for more than two decades, has been visiting the West Pittsburg Community Church food pantry every week for over a year, since her husband passed away and she was left to live alone. She says qualifying for CalFresh would be life changing for her, but she’s also afraid to apply, and concerned that revealing her lack of citizenship on an application for benefits might affect her adult son and his family.
Fidelina Melada, a 60-year-old Mexican undocumented immigrant, says she tried reaching out to SNAP to see if she was eligible for CalFresh just three months ago. She recalls being put on hold for over an hour and then was connected with someone who spoke little Spanish. When she said she wasn’t a citizen, the CalFresh representative ended the call, she says. Melada decided it wasn’t worth trying again.
“I really rely on food banks for food, especially ones where you don’t need to qualify or answer any questions,” says Melada.
