Food Stamp Program Participation among U.S. Born Children of Legal Immigrants before and after the Farm Bill Act of 2002

Paula Fomby, University of Colorado at Denver

This project uses data from a longitudinal study of low-income children and caregivers matched to administrative records to determine whether enrollment in the Food Stamps program increased for U.S.-born children of immigrants after legal immigrants’ access to that program was liberalized under the Farm Bill Act of 2002. Previous research has found that low-income U.S.-born children of immigrants were less likely than comparable children of native-born parents to receive food stamps in the period immediately after welfare reform, although U.S.-born children of immigrants remained eligible for all federal benefits. The analysis uses person-month data in a Cox proportional hazard model to determine whether U.S.-born children became more likely to receive food stamps when their parents’ eligibility was restored in April 2003.