By Gene Meyer

Tax reform advocate Dale Chaffee of Shawnee Mission is not a fan of how the state’s food stamp program helps undocumented immigrants in Kansas.

“To me, the question is why decent citizens should be forced to have money taken from them and given to people who don’t have a right to be here,” said Chaffee, who also goes by the nickname “Geezer.”

But Chaffee opposes any plan reversing a change to policy last fall that counts any illegal or undocumented immigrant as an income earner for purposes of calculating food stamp assistance, as nearly one in five Kansans are living near or below the federal poverty line.

A change to the current plan could provide illegal or undocumented users of food stamps with better benefits than qualified U.S. citizens, he said.

“That’s totally unacceptable.” 

The food stamp program – the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Plan, or SNAP – provides what essentially is a federally loaded debit card to help low-income households with savings of $2,000 or less buy basic food items. 

The program is federally funded, but it is managed by the states. Federal law passed in 2001 does not allow undocumented immigrants to receive food stamps, but their U.S.-born children are eligible for the benefits if total household income is below 130 percent of the federal poverty line – $3,321 a month for a family of four.