[WAPO] Luisa Fortin sometimes sits up at night, wondering what her clients are eating. She is the SNAP Outreach Coordinator for the Chattanooga Food Bank -- but lately she has done less outreaching.Her families, working immigrants in northwest Georgia, are spooked by the political climate, Fortin said. Increasingly, she’s being asked to explain how food stamps may impact immigration status, if not to outright cancel family food benefits.
Since mid-January, five of Fortin’s families have withdrawn from the SNAP program. One, the single mother of three citizen daughters, had fled to Georgia to escape an abusive husband. Another, two green-card holders with four young children, were thinking of taking on third jobs to compensate for the lost benefits. These families represent a small fraction of Fortin's caseload -- she estimates she has signed 200 immigrant families up for SNAP over the past six months -- but based on the calls she gets from other clients, she fears more cancellations are imminent.
"I get calls from concerned parents all the time: ’should I take my kids out of the program?’" Fortin said. "They’re risking hunger out of fear ... and my heart just breaks for them."