Judges: Immigrants can be cut off from food stamps
A state can cut off food stamps to most legal immigrants, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in a case that potentially affects California and a small number of other states that extend the nutritional program to noncitizens.
California, however, has not sought to eliminate its funding of food stamps for immigrants ineligible for the federal program. The ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allows Washington state to implement a cutoff that a federal judge had blocked a year ago.
Food stamps were established by a 1964 federal law that covered all low-income households, with the federal government paying all food costs and splitting administrative expenses with the states.
A 1996 law denied food stamps to legal immigrants who were not yet U.S. citizens, except for those who have lived in the United States for at least five years and a few other categories, including victims of domestic violence. A 2003 law restored eligibility to immigrant children.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/29/BAM21NE72U.DTL
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