The 2016 Presidential Election, the Public Charge Rule, and Food and Nutrition Assistance Among Immigrant Households

Abstract

Objectives. To investigate whether the 2016 US presidential election and the subsequent leak of a proposed change to the public charge rule reduced immigrant families’ participation in food and nutrition assistance programs. Methods. We used nationally representative data on n = 57 808 households in the United States from the 2015–2018 Current Population Survey–Food Security Supplement. We implemented difference-in-difference-in-difference analyses to investigate whether the election and proposed rule change produced decreases in immigrant families’ participation in food and nutrition assistance programs and whether such decreases varied according to state policy generosity toward immigrants. Results. Findings indicate significant and large decreases in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, School Breakfast Program, and National School Lunch Program participation among immigrants in moderately generous states but no changes to receipt of food assistance from nongovernmental sources or to household food insecurity. Conclusions. Both anti-immigrant rhetoric and the perceived threat of policy enactment can be enough to produce chilling effects that have potentially serious implications for the health of immigrant households and thus the health of the nation. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(12):1738–1746. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2022.307011 )