Judith Havemann and William Claiborne in Washington
THE first provisions of the complex new federal welfare law took effect on Monday, requiring states to begin denying food stamps to non-United States citizens in the initial phase of a process that will ultimately strip benefits from half-a- million immigrants.
Efforts to enforce the new law came amid delays, confusion and, in at least one state, administrative chaos, as caseworkers and others involved in the welfare bureaucracy struggled first to decipher and then to implement the required changes.
The food stamp provisions of the law, which have received far less attention than other sections of the welfare reforms, are key to the success of the entire measure. They are expected to provide half of the expected $54-billion in savings from the bill over the next six years. Cutbacks of other benefits to immigrants account for most of the rest. States could lose millions of dollars if they fail to implement the provisions accurately and on time.
The Agriculture Department imposes strict financial penalties on states that pass out food stamps to people who are actually ineligible, so accuracy is critical. But under the new law, figuring out who qualifies becomes much more complicated: non-citizen legal immigrants can receive food stamps, for example, if they are new refugees, veterans or legal residents who have worked 10 years in the US without receiving any federal means-tested benefits.
Sorting through these changes seemed to be proving the most difficult in California, which has 40% of the nation’s immigrants.
California announced last week that it would begin cutting off non-citizens, but by week’s end had backed off in the face of a new federal directive suggesting their efforts may have been premature.
The confusion was trickling down to immigrants who applied for benefits on Monday.
Mima Michel (18), a non-citizen immigrant from Mexico, sat bewildered at the Santa Ana welfare office as she tried to apply for food stamps and other assistance for herself and her 21-day-old baby.
“Someone told me they can give you this, or they can give you that, and I want to find out for myself,” she said. After welfare officials put her through the entire application process and she was given another appointment, she said she still hadn’t been told anything about eligibility.
The new law officially went into effect on August 22, when the president signed the Welfare Bill. But on August 26, the Agriculture Department gave states a 30-day “grace period” to prepare for the changes. That grace period ended on Sunday.
Nationwide, about 850 000 non-citizens are receiving federal benefits. Immigrants who are on the food stamp rolls will have as long as a year in some states before they are cut off. Eventually about 500 000 non- citizens are expected to be cut off from federal assistance. – The Washington Post