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<blockquote data-quote="Babagounj" data-source="post: 752136" data-attributes="member: 12952">Undocumented immigrants lose government food aid&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; By&nbsp; Julia LYon &nbsp;&nbsp; The Salt Lake Tribune&nbsp; At the beginning of July, more than 2,000&nbsp; families with undocumented immigrants stopped receiving food stamp&nbsp; benefits due to a change in Utah’s rules.&nbsp;Now a growing number of them&nbsp; are showing up at emergency food pantries confused and needing help. &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Earlier this year, the state announced it&nbsp; would begin to fully count the income earned by all members of a&nbsp; household when determining food stamp eligibility.&nbsp;Previously, only a&nbsp; portion of undocumented immigrants’ income was counted in the food stamp&nbsp; calculation, due to the limitations of an old computer system. &nbsp;&nbsp; That meant, in some prior cases, that a&nbsp; family with several undocumented members might qualify for food stamps&nbsp; although a family of native Utahns making the same amount of money might&nbsp; not. &nbsp;&nbsp; “We believe this is fair and equitable across&nbsp; the board to treat all people equally when it comes to calculating the&nbsp; benefits that people get when they apply for food stamps,” said Curt&nbsp; Stewart, a spokesman for the state Department of Workforce Services,&nbsp; which oversees the food stamp program. &nbsp;&nbsp; Despite the new rules, a blended family with&nbsp; children born in America and undocumented parents could still qualify&nbsp; for help if their income was low enough. The new computer-based&nbsp; eligibility system began July 1.&nbsp;&nbsp; But the families who have showed up at&nbsp; Hildegarde’s Pantry at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Salt Lake City have not&nbsp; understood the bureaucratic changes and wonder if Americans are being&nbsp; given preference over them.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Babagounj, post: 752136, member: 12952"] Undocumented immigrants lose government food aid By Julia LYon The Salt Lake Tribune At the beginning of July, more than 2,000 families with undocumented immigrants stopped receiving food stamp benefits due to a change in Utah’s rules. Now a growing number of them are showing up at emergency food pantries confused and needing help. Earlier this year, the state announced it would begin to fully count the income earned by all members of a household when determining food stamp eligibility. Previously, only a portion of undocumented immigrants’ income was counted in the food stamp calculation, due to the limitations of an old computer system. That meant, in some prior cases, that a family with several undocumented members might qualify for food stamps although a family of native Utahns making the same amount of money might not. “We believe this is fair and equitable across the board to treat all people equally when it comes to calculating the benefits that people get when they apply for food stamps,” said Curt Stewart, a spokesman for the state Department of Workforce Services, which oversees the food stamp program. Despite the new rules, a blended family with children born in America and undocumented parents could still qualify for help if their income was low enough. The new computer-based eligibility system began July 1. But the families who have showed up at Hildegarde’s Pantry at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Salt Lake City have not understood the bureaucratic changes and wonder if Americans are being given preference over them. [/QUOTE]

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