No, SNAP Benefits Aren't Mostly Used by Immigrants
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AS ROUGHLY 42 million Americans face the loss of food stamps this weekend, far-right influencers, extremists, and conspiracy theorists are using the crisis to push racist disinformation about who receives these benefits.
As a result of the government shutdown, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will not be funded as of November 1, according to a message on the website of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), which administers the program. While this loss of benefits could be catastrophic for millions, that hasn’t stopped the rush of disinformation. A number of conspiracy theorists and right-wing influencers are claiming that immigrants are the main recipients of food stamps, while AI-generated videos on TikTok push racist stereotypes of Black people demanding more benefits.
These claims simply do not align with reality, given that the majority of people who receive SNAP benefits are white Americans, according to data collected by the USDA. The data also shows that deep red states like Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana are among the states with the highest percentage of those in receipt of food stamps.
“These narratives are being circulated to suggest that undeserving groups are getting the bulk of SNAP benefits and therefore to make the suspension of SNAP benefits seem like less of a crisis,” says Tracy Roof, a political scientist at the University of Richmond. “The reality is that the overwhelming majority of recipients of SNAP are people born in the US and many are in families with children or are elderly or disabled. Of those able to work, most do.”
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