Participation in the Food Stamp Program by U.S.-born children of immigrants before and after the Farm Bill Act of 2002

by Paula Fomby

This study uses administrative records from participants in a longitudinal study of low-income families in three U.S. cities to determine whether enrollment in the Food Stamp Program increased in households with U.S.-born children and foreign-born heads after legal immigrants’ access to the program was restored under the Farm Bill Act of 2002. The analysis includes cross-tabulation, graphical comparisons, and multivariate Cox proportional hazard models predicting the risk of program entry and program exit. Results indicate that there was a short-term spike in thelikelihood of enrollment by households headed by noncitizen parents immediately after the Farm Bill Act was fully implemented in October 2003. For this population, the likelihood of enrollment declined by April 2004, but participation in the post-Farm Bill Act era remained elevated through 2006 compared with prior periods.

Keywords: Citizen participation, Immigrants, United States, Economic conditions, Agricultural laws and legislation, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, low income households, immigrants, participation, Farm Bill

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