As Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits dry up during Democrats’ government shutdown, the left-wing media along with millions of Americans reliant on SNAP are complaining about the lapse in coverage. But mixed into these complaints is a viral article highlighting that roughly 90,000 noncitizens will also lose SNAP access — not because of the shutdown, but because of the One Big Beautiful Bill. Advocates for noncitizens using taxpayer-funded welfare are using the moment of outrage about SNAP benefits pausing to pile on their grievances.
The problem?
Americans are realizing, many for the first time, just how much SNAP has been exploited to pay for noncitizens’ groceries.
Democrats shut the government down after refusing more than a dozen times to vote on a clean continuing resolution to keep the government open and funded as appropriations negotiations play out. As a result of Democrats’ shutdown, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is set to be cut off on Saturday.
KFF Health News did a report — which was since republished in ABC News — highlighting that the One Big Beautiful Bill passed by Republicans and signed into law by President Donald Trump narrows SNAP eligibility for noncitizens.
KFF Health News spoke to one woman, Antoinette, a noncitizen from the Democratic Republic of Congo who can’t speak English and needed a translator. Antoinette said that without Americans footing the bill, she can’t buy food.
“I would not have the means to buy food,” the woman said through a French translator. “How am I going to manage?”
KFF Health News explains how the abuse and exploitation of the system has worked: “Once they arrive — often with little or no means — the federal government provides resources such as financial assistance, Medicaid and SNAP, outreach that has typically garnered bipartisan support.”
The One Big Beautiful Bill, according to KFF Health News, “removes SNAP eligibility for most refugees, asylum seekers, trafficking and domestic violence victims, and other legal immigrants. About 90,000 people will lose SNAP in an average month as a result of the new restrictions narrowing which noncitizens can access the program…”
According to the report, “Federal, state and local spending on refugees and asylum seekers, including food, health care, education, and other expenses, totaled $457.2 billion from 2005 to 2019, according to a February 2024 report from the Department of Health and Human Services. During that time, 21% of refugees and asylum seekers received SNAP benefits, compared with 15% of all U.S. residents.”
Much like how Americans were awakened to the waste and abuse in our foreign aid through DOGE, Americans are also now waking up to the insanity that is our federal welfare apparatus, which has apparently allowed thousands of noncitizens to live off the system. It’s abuse and waste of the taxpayer to the highest degree — made possible by politicians on both sides of the aisle and thankfully coming to an end thanks to the president.
While the left and their media allies want to exploit Democrats’ shutdown to portray the narrowing of noncitizen eligibility for SNAP as cruel, they’re actually just revealing to the American taxpayer how much they’ve been taken advantage of for years.
Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2
