Officials Rally to Support Immigrants and Access to CalFresh Food Assistance

SAN FRANCISCO - The San Francisco Human Services Agency (HSA) joined the SF-Marin Food Bank and state and local leaders for a community forum on Wednesday as part of statewide efforts in May to highlight the critical role that CalFresh (formerly known as food stamps) plays in fighting hunger and eliminating the threat of food insecurity. The event brought together local hunger advocates to dispel myths about immigrants’ participation in CalFresh nutrition benefits and to address a recent spike in the number of eligible county residents who have opted out of the program.

CalFresh is a federally funded supplemental nutrition benefit (known nationally as SNAP) that increases meal budgets and access to better nutrition for low-income households. Currently, 4 million Californians are being served by this vital program, but many more eligible, including legal permanent residents and those with qualifying immigration status, are not enrolled. May is CalFresh Awareness Month.

“Recent federal actions on immigration have caused tremendous fear in immigrant communities, undermining trust in government programs and chilling access to health, food, and other critical services, said Trent Rhorer, Executive Director of the Human Services Agency. “The nutrition benefits provided by CalFresh reduce hunger and put more healthy food on the table for low-income families. We’re working to protect the rights of qualifying immigrants to receive the food assistance they are entitled to without fear.”

In recent months, HSA and food security advocates have responded to increasing reports of immigrants who are eligible for CalFresh, but who are not enrolling, or current recipients who are opting out of the program due to concerns about recently proposed federal immigration policies. New HSA protocols are now in place to monitor incidents of immigrants who elect to remove themselves from food assistance benefits.

It's estimated that 1 in 4 San Franciscans is food insecure, meaning they don't make enough money to provide 3 meals a day for their families and/or themselves. CalFresh benefits help feed more than 50,000 San Franciscans every month. But that only constitutes about half of all the eligible residents. Many families in need are unaware that they may qualify.

“CalFresh is honestly one of the best tools we have at our disposal to fight hunger in the community, and to do away with it or change it in some way would be catastrophic,” said Paul Ash, Executive Director with the SF-Marin Food Bank. “The number of people who will need our help if Calfresh were diminished would overwhelm the food bank very quickly. So we call on our elected officials to do what they can to protect this vital food safety net program.”

Fortunately there is a robust network of agencies and community partners who are working behind the scenes to keep CalFresh, and other programs, strong. HSA connects recipients to services provided by Bay Area Legal Aid for questions or concerns about how participating in CalFresh could impact their immigration status. Attorneys were on hand at today’s event to explain that in light of statements made in recent Presidential Executive Orders, the laws about immigrants’ access to health, food and critical public benefits, like CalFresh, have not changed.

Local immigration advocates and community organizations often observe “Public Charge” issues as one of the leading reasons those in need and eligible for CalFresh for themselves and their children are hesitant to apply. Public Charge is a term used by U.S. Immigration officials to describe someone who is likely to become dependent on public benefits that provide cash assistance to get by. Historically, the term has been used in immigration law as grounds for inadmissibility and deportation. CalFresh is not a public “cash assistance” program, but rather nutrition-based, food assistance.

For more information and to apply for CalFresh, visit www.sfhsa.org