KUAR | By Antoinette Grajeda / Arkansas Advocate

Eligible Marshallese migrants in Arkansas can begin applying for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Tuesday after access to the federal nutrition program was restored earlier this year.

State lawmakers in August approved an emergency rule to comply with the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024, which extends SNAP and Transitional Employment Assistance (TEA) eligibility to citizens from the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau as part of the renegotiated Compacts of Free Association (COFA).

Arkansas is home to the largest Marshallese community in the country, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Arkansas’ Marshallese community again eligible for SNAP benefits

*Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate*
Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese founder Melisa Laelan discusses a report that recommends using legislation to extend SNAP benefits to Marshallese migrants during a press conference on Aug. 31, 2023.

KUAR | By Antoinette Grajeda / Arkansas Advocate

A report released Thursday advocates for extending Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to the thousands of Marshallese migrants who lawfully reside in Arkansas and struggle with food insecurity.

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families worked with the Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese for more than a year on the report, which recommends granting Marshallese migrants SNAP eligibility through one of three pieces of legislation currently under consideration by Congress, such as the Compacts of Free Association.

After testing nearly 70 nuclear bombs in the 1940s and 1950s that contaminated the Marshall Islands with radiation, 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. The compacts allow the U.S. to operate military bases in the Freely Associated States, while FAS citizens may live and work in the U.S. and its territories as lawful non-immigrants.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2023-09-01/new-report-urges-legislative-action-to-provide-snap-benefits-to-arkansas-marshallese-community