VTMBH Article: Body
At the end of June, a coalition of social advocates filed a lawsuit demanding New York State authorities guarantee all poor documented immigrants receive food stamps. The plaintiffs accuse the New York food stamps program (FAP) of unconstitutional discrimination against needy legal non-citizens of the United States.
A state law denies food stamps to several categories of immigrants who arrived in the United States after August 1996. For example, it excludes from the numbers of food stamps recipients those who left U.S. territory for more than 90 days, who moved from one county to another after 1996, or who, after five years of residence in the United States, havent registered to become U.S. citizens. As a result, more than 12,000 of the neediest legal New York State residents (including children, senior citizens, invalids and victims of domestic violence) rely on charities for food today.
Our clients are a glaring example of illegal actions by state authorities, who are refusing people who live below the poverty line their elementary rights, said Constance K. Carden, director of the Department of Special Litigation for New Yorks Legal Aid Group (NYLAG). Lawyers for NYLAG represent the interests of two of the plaintiffs---73-year-old Brooklyn residents Yankel and Vera Teitelman, immigrants from Ukraine and Holocaust survivors. The Teitelmans receive welfare, but live on food donated by charitable organizations.
The situation is no easier for other plaintiffs families. Grace Lovell, from Guyana, is a victim of domestic violence who lives at a confidential address in New York together with her six-year-old son Theo. Theo suffers from anemia, allergies to a number of different foods, and insomnia. Lovell receives welfare, but has serious difficulty acquiring adequate food, because New York authorities refuse to provide her with food stamps. She is unable to provide her son the food his doctor recommended.
Dchem Ndai, from Mali, lives in a special night shelter for victims of domestic abuse. She and her young son receive welfare, but must live off of cheap macaroni.
Ducardo Gutierrez, an elderly woman from Colombia, lives in Queens. After paying her rent (for which she relies on welfare), she is left without enough to acquire food. In order to eat, she turns to a nearby senior center, charities, and public soup kitchens.
Lawyers insist that state authorities should grant food stamps to all needy legal immigrants, regardless of their arrival date or citizenship status. Last year, a coalition of advocacy groups secured a decision from a New York appellate court granting indigent legal immigrants rights to state Medicaid. The judge based his decision on the 17th article of the New York State Constitution, which obliges authorities to grant necessary social assistance to all legal residents in need. In addition, the judge ruled that New York State authorities may not violate the principle of equal protection as they had been, by punishing immigrants for arriving after August 22, 1996.
The coalition of social advocates who brought the food stamps suit includes New York Legal Assistance Group (212-750-0800, ex.123); Welfare Law Center (212-633-6967); The Legal Aid Society (718-422-2787); Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation (212-822-8329); and the Greater Upstate Law Project (716-454-6500). You can call these numbers and see about joining the class action suit if you have been refused food stamps because of your incorrect arrival date (after August 22, 1996) in the United States.
Irina Matiychenko, a lawyer for NYLAG, in an interview with the Russian Forward, strongly emphasized that the discussion is about only the state food stamps program. The suit does not apply to the federal governments food stamp program. The Russian Forward will certainly communicate the judges decision, which, we hope, will be in favor of immigrants.
A state law denies food stamps to several categories of immigrants who arrived in the United States after August 1996. For example, it excludes from the numbers of food stamps recipients those who left U.S. territory for more than 90 days, who moved from one county to another after 1996, or who, after five years of residence in the United States, havent registered to become U.S. citizens. As a result, more than 12,000 of the neediest legal New York State residents (including children, senior citizens, invalids and victims of domestic violence) rely on charities for food today.
Our clients are a glaring example of illegal actions by state authorities, who are refusing people who live below the poverty line their elementary rights, said Constance K. Carden, director of the Department of Special Litigation for New Yorks Legal Aid Group (NYLAG). Lawyers for NYLAG represent the interests of two of the plaintiffs---73-year-old Brooklyn residents Yankel and Vera Teitelman, immigrants from Ukraine and Holocaust survivors. The Teitelmans receive welfare, but live on food donated by charitable organizations.
The situation is no easier for other plaintiffs families. Grace Lovell, from Guyana, is a victim of domestic violence who lives at a confidential address in New York together with her six-year-old son Theo. Theo suffers from anemia, allergies to a number of different foods, and insomnia. Lovell receives welfare, but has serious difficulty acquiring adequate food, because New York authorities refuse to provide her with food stamps. She is unable to provide her son the food his doctor recommended.
Dchem Ndai, from Mali, lives in a special night shelter for victims of domestic abuse. She and her young son receive welfare, but must live off of cheap macaroni.
Ducardo Gutierrez, an elderly woman from Colombia, lives in Queens. After paying her rent (for which she relies on welfare), she is left without enough to acquire food. In order to eat, she turns to a nearby senior center, charities, and public soup kitchens.
Lawyers insist that state authorities should grant food stamps to all needy legal immigrants, regardless of their arrival date or citizenship status. Last year, a coalition of advocacy groups secured a decision from a New York appellate court granting indigent legal immigrants rights to state Medicaid. The judge based his decision on the 17th article of the New York State Constitution, which obliges authorities to grant necessary social assistance to all legal residents in need. In addition, the judge ruled that New York State authorities may not violate the principle of equal protection as they had been, by punishing immigrants for arriving after August 22, 1996.
The coalition of social advocates who brought the food stamps suit includes New York Legal Assistance Group (212-750-0800, ex.123); Welfare Law Center (212-633-6967); The Legal Aid Society (718-422-2787); Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation (212-822-8329); and the Greater Upstate Law Project (716-454-6500). You can call these numbers and see about joining the class action suit if you have been refused food stamps because of your incorrect arrival date (after August 22, 1996) in the United States.
Irina Matiychenko, a lawyer for NYLAG, in an interview with the Russian Forward, strongly emphasized that the discussion is about only the state food stamps program. The suit does not apply to the federal governments food stamp program. The Russian Forward will certainly communicate the judges decision, which, we hope, will be in favor of immigrants.