Ukrainian war refugees in USA face food crisis
War refugees from Ukraine are facing a food crisis in the United States, Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of Hope For Ukraine, said in an interview with millionaire podcaster Adam Klasfeld, published on YouTube on Sunday.
The issue is about payments under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
"It was a real shock wave that swept through our office and the entire community, the Ukrainian refugees who are here, because at the end of October they started receiving letters informing them that due to their immigration status, their SNAP benefits would be canceled or significantly reduced," Boyechko said on the podcast.
He recalled that there are about 300,000 Ukrainian war refugees in the United States who arrived after the full-scale invasion in 2022 under temporary protection status, have a two-year residence permit, so all of them are in the United States legally. Since November 1, they have lost access to SNAP.
"I call this the most brutal cut of the Big Beautiful Bill (a tax and spending bill that provides for radical changes in taxation, the social security system - IF-U), which was actually aimed at the most vulnerable part of the population of the United States. Just so you understand, the average SNAP benefit per person is about $ 210. And, you know, the Congressional Budget Office has done a number of in-depth studies on this issue. And this cut, it will not have a big impact on the budget. It is not a huge line of expenditure. But for these families, like one family that I spoke to yesterday, they have six children, four of whom are young. And, you know, they work for minimum wage. For them, the benefit of about $ 1,000 that they received for food is extremely important. And now we are seeing with our own eyes that there will be a serious food crisis in the United States. And it is not because of natural disasters, not because of a shortage of food, but solely because of the policies that were implemented as part of the Big Beautiful Bill. So, in essence, they have a choice: pay rent and not eat or eat and be evicted," Boyechenko said.
"I think our main task now is to draw attention to this problem. And, hopefully, there will be enough people in the Senate from both parties who will realize that this is a very big mistake on their part, because this is a very small item in the budget, but it will have big consequences for communities in the future," said Boyechko, expressing hope that a law will be passed that will solve this problem.
