USDA Working With Mexican Government To Promote Food Stamps
The food stamps program is supposed to be a safety net. A catch-all for those incapable of feeding themselves because we, as a country, have made a decision that we’re not going to let people starve to death. What food stamps has become is a new sort of entitlement program, where benefits aren’t based on need and the programs administrators actively seek in increase enrollment.
Up to and including partnering with foreign countries to increase enrollment among their citizens here. Because it’s not like we’ve got a $1 trillion budget deficit or anything.
The Mexican government has been working with the United States Department of Agriculture to increase participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps.
USDA has an agreement with Mexico to promote American food assistance programs, including food stamps, among Mexican Americans, Mexican nationals and migrant communities in America.
“USDA and the government of Mexico have entered into a partnership to help educate eligible Mexican nationals living in the United States about available nutrition assistance,” the USDA explains in a brief paragraph on their “Reaching Low-Income Hispanics With Nutrition Assistance” web page. “Mexico will help disseminate this information through its embassy and network of approximately 50 consular offices.”
The partnership — which was signed by former USDA Secretary Ann M. Veneman and Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs Luis Ernesto Derbez Bautista in 2004 — sees to it that the Mexican Embassy and Mexican consulates in America provide USDA nutrition assistance program information to Mexican Americans, Mexican nationals working in America and migrant communities in America. The information is specifically focused on eligibility criteria and access.
The goal, for USDA, is to get rid of what they see as enrollment obstacles and increase access among potentially eligible populations by working with arms of the Mexican government in America. Benefits are not guaranteed or provided under the program — the purpose is outreach and education.
We shouldn’t be promoting enrollment in these programs. We should promoting independence.
Tags: food stamps
