Copyright newsweek
While headlines often spotlight immigrant use of government benefits, data shows non-citizens account for a small fraction of SNAP recipients and consume fewer welfare dollars per person than U.S.-born citizens. In 2019, about half of poor households with U.S.-born members, 50 percent, participated in the SNAP, compared with 47 percent of poor immigrant households in which all members were eligible and 46 percent of those with mixed eligibility, according to MPI analysis. These findings suggest that SNAP participation rates among poor immigrant households were slightly lower than among all U.S.-born households. Julia Gelatt, associate director of U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), told Newsweek that “years of evidence point to the fact that noncitizens use SNAP at lower rates than U.S. citizens.” A woman shops at the Feeding South Florida food pantry in Pembroke Park, Florida, on October 27, 2025. An analysis by the Economic Policy Innovation Center has found that in fiscal year 2023, approximately 1.764 million non-citizens received SNAP benefits, costing taxpayers around $5.7 billion. The research draws on data gathered by the USDA. “I think many Americans are shocked to learn that the federal government is spending so much of their hard-earned tax dollars on welfare for non-citizens,” Matthew Dickerson, Director of Budget Policy at the Economic Policy Innovation Center, told Newsweek. “Contrary to what that EPIC report says, no SNAP participants are unauthorized immigrants without status,” Gellatt said. “Most of those granted some form of temporary protection from deportation—including DACA, Temporary Protected Status, and asylum applicants – are ineligible for SNAP and therefore not among the 1.8 million noncitizen participants,” Gellatt said. Humanitarian parolees with at least one year of parole can qualify for SNAP, but adults must wait five years to enroll, so typically only children are immediately eligible. Ukrainian and Afghan parolees, however, can access SNAP without waiting, because of a congressional exemption. In fiscal year 2024, SNAP served an average of about 41.7 million people each month, according to the USDA. Federal spending on the program totaled $99.8 billion that year, with an average monthly benefit of $187.20 per participant. SNAP is federally funded, while states share responsibility for administering the program and distributing benefits. Millions of Americans could lose access to SNAP benefits during the ongoing government shutdown, as a funding dispute continues between the Trump administration and congressional Democrats. The USDA announced Friday that it will not tap contingency funds designated by Congress for emergency use if the shutdown extends beyond this week. One expert told Newsweek that “years of evidence point to the fact that noncitizens use SNAP at lower rates than U.S. citizens.” David J. Bier, Director of Immigration Studies at the Cato Institute, told Newsweek that non-citizens made up about 4 percent of SNAP recipients in 2022, while representing roughly 6.5 percent of the U.S. population that year, according to a study conducted by the libertarian think tank. A study by the Cato Institute, using data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), found that non-citizens consume less welfare per capita than native-born Americans. According to Cato, non-citizens’ per-person consumption of programs including SNAP, Medicaid, and housing assistance averaged $310, compared with $435 for native-born citizens. The think tank attributes the difference partly to demographic factors such as age, family composition, and higher employment rates among non-citizens, and notes that its findings adjust for underreporting in federal surveys. “Our difference is less extreme because the SIPP survey data looks at whether anyone in the household, citizen or not, are receiving benefits, so some of the money attributed to noncitizens in there were actually for citizens,” Bier added. “We focus on monetary amounts because that is what matters for budgeting. In the administrative data, immigrants were also 38 percent less costly to SNAP than other residents,” he added. USDA defines a non-citizen as any individual residing in the United States who is not a natural-born or naturalized citizen. This includes lawful permanent residents, refugees, asylees and individuals granted a stay of deportation. Those with legal status may be eligible for SNAP, while individuals without legal status are generally ineligible, though U.S.-born children or other eligible household members in their households may still receive assistance. The total cost of SNAP benefits in FY 2023 was $119.6 billion, according to a 2023 report by the USDA across the program. The 1.764 million non-citizen participants a...
