“Welfare reform drastically altered the provision of public assistance for legal immigrants of all ages in this country, a distinction based solely on their immigration status and date of entry into the US.”

According to Census figures, the vast majority of immigrants in this country (90%) are here legally. The safety net of social programs that historically buoyed them in their initial and most difficult years was abruptly torn asunder upon welfare reform’s passage, leaving scores of families without basic services. Essentially, all legal immigrants–children and adults alike–who enter the US after August 22, 1996, are effectively barred from all federal benefits until they become naturalized citizens. Whether a child is an immigrant ineligible for health insurance and food assistance, or a US-citizen whose immigrant parent is ineligible, the end result is the same: the child’s health and nutritional well-being are jeopardized.

The most recent analysis available from two independent surveys highlighted this disturbing trend. In a study I conducted with Physicians for Human Rights, we found that 4 out of 5 low-income, legal immigrant families interviewed were hungry or on the brink of hunger. They had to skip meals or go whole days without eating because they didn’t have money to buy food. The California Food Policy Advocates also found that immigrant families who lost food stamps were suffering from increased hunger. Children in some immigrant families would benefit from the receipt of assistance to ensure optimal growth, function and health, yet studies have shown that they are more than likely not receiving it. For example, there were 1.2 million fewer lawfully present immigrants receiving food stamps in 1998 than in 1994, a decline of more than 80 percent. Even more startling, there was a decline of over one million US citizen children of lawfully present immigrants during the same period, a 75% drop due largely to the effects of the 1996 legislation.

Jennifer Kasper (far right), currently a fellow with Physicians for Human Rights, teaching health promoters during her 18-months as a volunteer in El Salvador.

President Bush has an opportunity to support immigrants’ family values by ensuring they have the means to provide for their families. Articles in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, specifically non-discrimination, the right to the highest attainable standard of health, and a standard of living adequate for a child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development, crystallize what ought to be done to recognize the social claims of children and care for them in a just fashion.

If you’re interested in learning more, and advocating on behalf of immigrant families, visit these web sites: Food Research and Action Center (www.frac.org), National Immigration Law Center (www.nilc.org), National Council of La Raza (www.nclr.org). On the federal level, you can support pending legislation collectively called, The Healthy Solutions for America’s Hardworking Families 2001. This agenda includes three pieces of legislation that address health and nutritional concerns for immigrant families (each of these Acts enjoys bipartisan support):

• The Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act of 2001 gives states the option of providing federal health care to lawfully present immigrant children and pregnant women.

• The Nutrition Assistance for Working Families and Seniors Act of 2001 restores food stamps to qualified immigrants, primarily affecting families with children, and makes other improvements in federal nutrition programs.

• The Women Immigrants’ Safe Harbor Act permits new American domestic violence victims to obtain the same services available to all other Americans.

In This Issue:

DGH in El Salvador: Earthquake Relief
DGH Locally: Liberation Medicine in the US
Creative Fundraising: Photography Exhibit
Welfare Reform & Immigrant Children
Human Rights In the Arts
The Olympic Living Wage Campaign
A Day's Life... Ben Lee
Cup-by-Cup Earthquake Relief
Dorothy Granada Under Attack Again