Ineligible parents, eligible children: Food Stamps receipt, allotments, and food insecurity among children of immigrants

The Personal Responsibility, Work, and Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) made non-citizens ineligible for federally funded food assistance and reduced Food Stamp allotments (the amount of Food Stamps benefits provided) for households containing a mixture of citizens and non-citizens. Using the Survey of Program Dynamics, we assess the effects of PRWORA on household-level Food Stamps recipiency, Food Stamps allotments, and food security among the children of non-citizens. We find that the children of non-citizens experienced more persistent and higher levels of food insecurity following PRWORA’s enactment than the children of citizens. While declines in Food Stamps allotments substantially explain the disproportionately high levels of food insecurity among the children of non-citizens in the year following welfare reform, high levels of food insecurity continued as late as 2001 among the children of non-citizens on account of both low allotments and Food Stamps receipt among those in need of food assistance.