FIRST ON FOX: President Trump’s Department of Agriculture announced on Tuesday that it is taking steps to ensure that illegal immigrants in the United States are not eligible for food stamp benefits.
“U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins today directed the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture to immediately clarify and enforce all rules restricting its beneficiaries to U.S. citizens and legal residents only,” the department said in a press release.
The press release adds that the directive “enforces” Trump’s executive order from February 19 aimed at “ensuring taxpayer resources are not used to incentivize or support illegal immigration.”
“The days in which taxpayer dollars are used to subsidize illegal immigration are over,” Agriculture Secretary Rollins said in a statement.
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“Today’s directive affirms that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will follow the law—full stop.”
Food stamp fraud has long been an issue that Republicans have warned about including Sen. Joni Ernst who recently debuted a bill designed to tackle overpayments in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), colloquially known as “food stamps.”
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“Bureaucratic blunders are leaving billions of dollars on the table as Americans are starved to keep up with the ever-growing $36 trillion debt,” she told Fox News Digital in a statement.
“SNAP plays an essential role in helping feed families. That’s why we need to strengthen its integrity by holding states accountable for growing error rates, implementing a zero-tolerance policy, and snapping back overpayments.”
Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan explained to Fox News last week that illegal migrants are incentivized to come to the U.S. while they are reaping more in benefits than most Americans make in their salaries.
“It is a major driver… how many welfare cards, and food stamps, and social services envelopes you see all around these homes,” Homan said. It’s been going on for decades.”
Fox News Digital’s Julia Johnson contributed to this report
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