SNAP Benefits Not Primarily Utilized by Immigrant Population, Data Shows

In a looming crisis that threatens to impact tens of millions of Americans, approximately 42 million food stamp recipients face the potential loss of critical nutrition benefits this weekend. However, amidst this serious situation, a wave of disinformation about who actually receives these benefits has surged across social media platforms.

According to a notice on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) website, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will go unfunded beginning November 1 due to the ongoing government shutdown. Despite the potentially devastating consequences for vulnerable populations, conspiracy theories and misleading narratives have proliferated online.

Right-wing influencers and extremist accounts are falsely claiming that immigrants constitute the primary recipients of food stamps. Simultaneously, artificially generated videos circulating on TikTok promote harmful racial stereotypes about Black Americans seeking increased benefits.

These narratives sharply contradict official USDA data, which clearly shows that white Americans make up the largest demographic group receiving SNAP benefits. Further challenging these false narratives, states with predominantly conservative voting patterns, including Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana, have some of the highest percentages of residents receiving food assistance.

Tracy Roof, a political scientist at the University of Richmond, explained the motivation behind such disinformation: “These narratives are being circulated to suggest that undeserving groups are getting the bulk of SNAP benefits and therefore to make the suspension of SNAP benefits seem like less of a crisis.” She emphasized that reality tells a different story, with the “overwhelming majority of recipients of SNAP being people born in the US, and many are in families with children or are elderly or disabled. Of those able to work, most do.”

One particularly influential piece of disinformation has been a fabricated chart shared by a far-right account known as “The General” on X (formerly Twitter). The chart falsely suggests that Afghan, Somali, and Iraqi residents in the U.S. represent the top three recipient groups of SNAP benefits. Fact-checkers at PolitiFact traced the chart to a website called Personal Finance Wizards, confirming it contains entirely fabricated data.

In stark contrast to these claims, official USDA statistics reveal that almost 90 percent of SNAP recipients are American-born citizens. Only 1.1 percent are refugees, and 3.3 percent fall into other non-citizen categories.

Despite being debunked, “The General’s” post has garnered 6.3 million views and has been amplified by other influential figures, including right-wing podcaster Matt Walsh. Walsh quoted the post on X, writing: “We import the third world and force working-class Americans to feed and house them at gunpoint. Civilizational suicide.” Similar posts sharing the fabricated chart have amassed hundreds of thousands of views.

The spread of such disinformation comes at a particularly critical time, as the potential lapse in SNAP funding threatens real consequences for millions of American households. The SNAP program represents one of the nation’s most important safety net initiatives, providing essential food assistance to families with children, elderly individuals, and people with disabilities.

The USDA data further undermines the narrative about immigrant dependence on benefits by showing that the vast majority of recipients are not only U.S. citizens but also include working families who still struggle to make ends meet in the face of rising food costs and economic challenges.

As the funding deadline approaches, public health experts warn that any disruption to SNAP benefits could lead to increased food insecurity, particularly affecting children and vulnerable populations already struggling with economic hardship.