Nearly 12 million Latino children in the United States—three out of every five—are at risk due to budget cuts approved by Congress to the Medicaid health insurance program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), warned the organization UnidosUS.
The reduction or cuts to these programs would affect 34 million children nationwide, but two-thirds of the beneficiaries are racial and ethnic minorities, meaning migrant-descended communities would suffer a disproportionate impact, said Jared Nordlund, Florida director of UnidosUS, one of the country’s largest Latino organizations, during a conference.
“Why are Hispanics disproportionately affected by this? Because we see a historic underrepresentation of Hispanics in well-paid jobs; we see Hispanics in low-wage jobs that don’t offer benefits,” Nordlund responded to a question from EFE.
UnidosUS and other organizations warned about the effects of cuts totaling nearly $700 billion to Medicaid and $300 billion to SNAP, the food stamp assistance program, as approved last week by the House of Representatives.
These reductions are included in “the big, beautiful bill” of President Donald Trump, which still needs Senate approval.
“One thing to note is that when you look at the ZIP codes of SNAP and Medicaid beneficiaries, some of the ZIP codes with the highest enrollment are predominantly Hispanic, so these cuts directly target our community,” Nordlund warned.
Organizations warned that one of the hardest-hit regions will be Florida, the fourth state with the most Medicaid enrollees, with 1.6 million Hispanic families enrolled, while one in five Florida families receiving SNAP food stamps are Latino.
“What we’ll see in Florida and across the country, but especially in Florida, is a sharp rise in uninsured Floridians and, at the same time, a cut in the number of people with SNAP who can’t afford their expenses and access nutrition and health benefits,” said Sadaf Knight, director of the Florida Policy Institute.
The impact on Latino families is greater because many include members with different legal statuses, so they are also affected by federal and Florida immigration policies, added Laura Kallus, director of Caridad Center, the state’s largest free clinic.
“They’re afraid to go to work, so the impact spans all sectors because our families work in construction, on farms, in the fields, in sales, in the hospitality industry,” she explained. EFE
