MRS > Migration Policy and Public Affair Office > Farm Bill Expands Food Stamp Eligibility for Immigrants and Refugees
May 13, 2002
On May 13, 2002, President Bush signed into law H.R. 2646, the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, also known as the Farm Bill, which includes an expansion of immigrant and refugee eligibility for food stamps. The new law (Public Law 107-171) opens the food stamp program to:
- qualified immigrants who have been in the United States for at least 5 years, effective April 1, 2003, which restores food stamp eligibility to roughly 363,000 immigrants and removes the 7-year limit on food stamp eligibility for refugees and asylees;
- qualified immigrant children, regardless of date of entry, effective October 1, 2003;
- qualified immigrants receiving disability assistance, regardless of date of entry, effective October 1, 2002.
This represents the largest restoration of benefits since the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 (PRWORA) disqualified roughly 935,000 legal immigrants from public benefit programs. In 1998, food stamp benefits were restored to about 250,000 immigrants - primarily children, the elderly and the disabled - and Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid were restored to about 12,000 elderly and disabled immigrants. MRS has long supported the restoration of public benefits to legal immigrants.