A new report calls for legislative action to extend SNAP benefits to the Marshallese community in Arkansas

According to a report published on Thursday, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) should be expanded to include the thousands of Marshallese migrants who are legally residing in Arkansas yet face food poverty- SNAP benefits.

There should be an increase in the number of Marshallese migrants who are eligible for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) but live in food poverty, numbering in the thousands and living legally in Arkansas- SNAP benefits. (Photo: Arkansas Advocate)

Granting Marshallese migrants SNAP eligibility

In an article from ed88radio, the Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese and Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families spent more than a year working on the report, which suggests granting Marshallese migrants SNAP eligibility, SNAP benefits, through one of three pieces of legislation that Congress is currently debating, such as the Compacts of Free Association.

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US signed Compacts of Free Association (COFA)- SNAP benefits

The United States signed Compacts of Free Association (COFA) with the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia following the testing of almost 70 nuclear bombs in the 1940s and 1950s that radioactively contaminated the Marshall Islands.

The agreements permit the US to maintain military facilities in the Freely Associated States while allowing residents of the FAS to legally reside and work throughout the US and its territories.

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