ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, September 24, 1996 TAG: 9609240074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NORFOLK
SOURCE: Associated Press
Virginia has started turning down legal immigrants who apply for food stamps, but those already getting assistance won't be cut off yet.
The policy, which started Monday, is to enforce the federal welfare reform measure signed into law Aug. 22. The law bars legal immigrants from receiving food stamps, except those who qualify for exemptions, such as veterans or refugees.
``Nobody's going to be cut off from food stamps now,'' said Noel Finney, administrator of the benefit program in Norfolk.
The change immediately affects only those applying for food stamps for the first time, said Martin Brown, spokesman for Virginia's Department of Social Services.
Legal immigrants already receiving food stamps will continue to get them until their benefits expire, Brown said. Their benefits then will be renewed for one more year if they continue to meet eligibility requirements, he said.
The department did not immediately know how many of the more than 500,000 food stamp recipients in Virginia are legal immigrants, Brown said.
Northern Virginia is likely to be most affected by the change. More than 60 percent of Virginia's immigrants live in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, said Juani Diaz, program manager for public assistance in Fairfax County.
She estimated that of the 12,500 families who receive food stamps in Fairfax County, 4,000 are legal immigrants. Officials are trying to determine how many of those families eventually will lose their benefits, she said.
Diaz said she is most concerned about what will happen to the elderly and the handicapped who lose benefits.
``If you can work, you can get a second job or something. If you are unable to work, what happens? That bothers me,'' she said.
A United Way spokeswoman said legal immigrants who can't get food stamps can get help from local food banks or the Salvation Army. Or their local United Way office can put them in touch with the appropriate service agencies, said Connie Collins, spokeswoman for United Way of South Hampton Roads, in Norfolk.
According to the 1990 census, there were 311,809 foreign-born residents in Virginia. Of those, 186,156 had not become citizens.
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