Fear and Hunger
By Albert B. Kelly
There are some things in America that seem basic and fundamental
to who we are as a people. These things are not necessarily enshrined in some
document somewhere; they are more like an unwritten compact between the
government and the governed in much the same way that doctors have that
unwritten compact with patients to “first do no harm” regardless of whoever’s
in front of them.
One of those basic American things is the belief that kids
are innocents and regardless of anything else, that no kid should go without
decent food, shelter, clothing, medical care, etc. That belief is a large part
of why the government provides resources so that schools can give out free or
reduced cost breakfast and lunch. It’s why the government provides resources
for CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program) so that no child goes without
decent medical care.
But lately, it seems like we’re breaking faith with those core
values in ways we may not have intended. It seems that large numbers of
immigrant families with children born in this country, are dropping out of the
programs intended to help them with food and nutrition- specifically WIC (Women
Infants and Children) and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).
According to research done by Emily Baumgaertner for a piece
in the NY Times, states across the country have noted a significant decline in
the number of eligible families participating in the programs as well as those already
in the program dropping out and foregoing food assistance.
I know that there is a segment of the population that will
cheer this news, believing that the immigrant community is filled with a bunch
of good-for-nothing parasites sucking off the system, but I’m not among them.
Regardless of what a person believes overall about immigration, walls, or
border security; these issues need to be separate from whether or not children
have enough decent nutritious food to eat- regardless of how or where they came
into our world.
Like the “first do no harm” concept, making sure children
have enough food is basic to who we are as a nation, it is part of doing the
right thing and somehow I can’t help but think that if we forget the humanity
of these families, that if we let kids go hungry because we’ve sown so much
fear into the culture, that we lose something essential as Americans.
We’re the nation that held back mass starvation through the
Marshall Plan in Europe in the aftermath of World War II. We’re also the nation
that rebuilt Japan after five devastating years of war. Goodness knows we’re
not perfect and we’ve never been, but few victorious countries have ever
extended the type of help and resources to former adversaries as the United
States has. That’s why it is so extraordinarily hard to see us fail at doing
the basic and obvious- which is to feed the hungry in our midst.
According to the article, the Homeland Security Department
has regulations they are floating that factor in whether or not someone is
getting benefits (i.e. WIC, SNAP, CHIP, etc.) when they are deciding whether or
not to give out visas or green cards. Perhaps they missed the fact that
immigrants pay taxes and in our immediate area, they contribute upwards of $29
million to the local economy.
I suppose someone could look at such a regulation and
conclude that this is a good thing, that anyone seeking to come into the
country should be completely self-sufficient. Perhaps, but another way to look
at this is to note that people want to be here so badly that they will go
without food or whatever to improve their chances of acceptance. For what it
may be worth, 45% of all immigrant households use WIC or SNAP to feed their
families and out of this group, the overwhelming majority of the children
involved are American citizens.
Here in New Jersey according to the article, the number of
households participating in the SNAP program is down roughly 8% statewide and
those working directly in the world of anti-hunger initiatives in the state note
that there has been a huge decline even in the number of eligible children
receiving free and reduced lunch. All of this is because of the fear that has
been sown among immigrant families.
All told, do we really want, whether intended or not, to use
food, shelter, and medical care as weapons or bargaining chips? It’s
un-American.