FRIDAY: Give Us Your Tired, Poor, But Not Hungry

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NEW YORK: Never mind that they contribute over $2 billion a year to the U.S. economy. Non-citizen immigrants will have their food stamps taken away from them starting Monday forcing the 1 million who currently use them to go hungry, while many millions more lose their safety net. As last year's federal welfare reform starts to bite, TIME New York correspondent Elaine Rivera says that "immigrants are basically being told, 'It's okay for you to be here and work, but don't expect to be treated on an equitable level if you are going through hard times.' "

Dan Stein, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, disagrees. "Immigrants are afforded the opportunity to pursue life, liberty, happiness and the American dream," he says. "In exchange, they promise to be law-abiding residents and not public charges." The cuts will hit particularly hard in four states California, Florida, Texas and New York that account for three-quarters of all non-citizens on food stamps. As Rivera warns: "It's a very dangerous trend ... it won't take long for the Government to see the results of forcing the poor to go hungry."