Oh, SNAP: Did You Know the U.S. & Mexico Have a Food Stamp Program 'Agreement'?

Did you know the United States Department of Agriculture and the Mexican government have teamed up to expand overall participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)?

You know what else? Apparently, this program has been around since 2004.

“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,” the Daily Caller reports.

“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 on its web page.

“Mexico will help disseminate this information through its embassy and network of approximately 50 consular offices.”

The DC report continues:

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 USDA argues that it wants to remove “enrollment obstacles” so that everyone can have the privilege on being on the assistance program and “increase access among potentially eligible populations by working with arms of the Mexican government in America.” Furthermore, the agency argues that the program is about “outreach” and “education.”

However, again, it’s important to remember that, according to the USDA, the program a) does not benefit illegal aliens and b) was created back in 2004.

“The partnership with the Mexican embassy was established in 2004,” a USDA spokesman wrote The Daily Caller in an email. “USDA does not perform outreach to immigrants that are undocumented, and therefore not eligible for SNAP.”

Still, the fact that very few people know anything about this expansion of SNAP has a few people raising questions.

“It’s a very disturbing policy, gone on for some years, and it raises very serious questions about American immigration policy as well as fiscal policy,” Sen. Jeff Session (R-AL) told the Daily Caller.

“Let’s get back to the fundamentals. What happened with the ‘96 welfare reform was to say that if want to you come to America you come legally, you assert you’re not coming for welfare benefits but you’re coming to work or otherwise be independent. There is no logic behind an immigration policy that would encourage immigrants who can’t successfully operate within this society,” he added.

Click here to read the full report.