Trump Public Charge Rule Could Leave Bed-Stuy Hungry: Experts

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — A recent Trump Administration change to federal immigration policy could make it harder for Bed-Stuy residents to feed their families, a local hunger relief organizations said.

A new "public charge" rule that targets legal immigrants reliant on public programs could have a significant effect on Bedford-Stuyvesant, where more than 30 percent of residents rely on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to buy groceries, according to hunger relief organization Food Bank For NYC.

"This rule is the latest attempt to intimidate immigrants and their families," said Food Bank For NYC representative Camesha Grant. "It would lead to thousands more New Yorkers going hungry every day."

Bedford Stuyvesant is the fourth in a list of 10 New York City neighborhoods with the greatest need for SNAP benefits yet is not one of the top 10 participating neighborhoods, which means people who may need the program don't use it, according to a 2018 Food Bank analysis.

A recent city analysis found immigrant New Yorkers have been leaving SNAP at an accelerated rate since Trump first proposed the rule — which will require those seeking green cards or visas to show they aren't likely to rely on government money — in October 2018.

Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, argued Tuesday the proposed rule, slated to take effect Oct. 15, will prevent new citizens from becoming a burden on the federal government.

"Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet," Cuccinelli said in an NPR interview, editing the famous Statue of Liberty poem. "And who will not become a public charge."

But relief experts fear food insecurity will not dissipate under the rule, but shift to emergency food providers that are already stretched beyond their means to feed.

About 54 percent of the city's emergency food providers, which already feed one in five New Yorkers, report running out of food every month, said Grant.

"These providers are already stretched thin," said Grant. "The strenuous efforts of the nonprofit sector are not sufficient to make up the funding gap created by bad public policy."