Does it concern you that 47 million Americans now rely on food stamps?

But apparently officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture believe that’s not nearly enough people on food stamps. Caroline May of the Daily Caller reports that the USDA is trying to help potentially ineligible immigrants obtain food stamps through their children:

The Department of Agriculture, via the Mexican government, assures potentially ineligible immigrants that they can still apply for food stamps on behalf of their eligible children without giving information about their immigration status, according to documents released Thursday by Judicial Watch.

A USDA Spanish language flyer provided to the Mexican Embassy, according to Judicial Watch, reads that if potentially ineligible immigrants want to obtain benefitshttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png for their children they “need not divulge information regarding your immigration status in seeking this benefit for your children.”

So I guess if we have terrorists on welfare, we should be cool about illegals getting food stamps?

Some of our immigration problems could be solved if we didn’t lavishly dole out public assistance. If people knew that they would either go hungry or have to ask for charity if they couldn’t make it in the U.S., then we would receive more able immigrants.

This is a terrible way to start out life in the United States. That the USDA helps people get assistance without revealing their immigration status encourages dishonesty. That the first experience children have of the United States is food stamps encourages dependency.

Joel Gehrke of the Examiner writes:

The food stamp program may be cut when Congress moves to pass a farm bill this year. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., introduced a bill last week to cut $30 billion from the $760 billion the program is expected to spend over the next ten years.

“Since President Obama came into office, SNAP participation has increased at 10 times the rate of job creation, the annual spending on SNAP has doubled, and one in seven Americans now participates in SNAP,” Thune said in a statement on the bill.  “This explosive growth in both the SNAP enrollment and federal cost of the program is alarming and requires lawmakers to take cost-effective legislative control measures.”

“We save taxpayers $30 billion and make sure that families in need still receive a helping hand,” Stutzman added. “This is a common-sense start for Congress’ Farm Bill discussions as we look for ways to tackle Washington’s nearly $17 trillion debt.”

I can’t wait to hear all the squawks about cruelty when the cut is discussed in Congress.