Why this matters:

The number of San Diego County residents using food stamps has fallen sharply. Experts point to new regulations and ongoing concerns as the causes.

Dozens of people formed a long queue shielded by umbrellas from the intense heat while awaiting boxes of fresh produce and protein at a San Diego Food Bank distribution in San Ysidro on Tuesday.

"The lines are getting longer," Maria Lewis said. "People are worried now."

Lewis, an outreach coordinator, moved along the queue attempting to enroll individuals in the federal aid program known as food stamps, referred to as CalFresh in California. Several showed hesitation.

Individuals facing hardship have been directed more toward food lines and away from federal support due to fresh policies that restrict eligibility, more complex and repeated application processes, and growing worries that authorities may use personal data for deportation or to affect permanent resident status.

The program adjustments stem from President Donald Trump's key spending legislation, enacted a year ago, aimed at reducing fraud, abuse, and waste.

The measure also ended benefits for certain immigrants including asylum seekers, human trafficking victims, and refugees beginning in April in California. In June, recipients had three months to satisfy updated work rules.

Prior to the updated law, adults aged 18 to 54 without dependents could access SNAP benefits for three months within a three-year span without proving employment of at least 20 hours weekly.

The revised exemption for adults begins at age 65 and covers parents with children under 14. It also eliminates protections established under the Biden administration for veterans, those experiencing homelessness, and former foster youth under age 24.

The updated eligibility standards have reached states at varying points. They started in California in April and June, yet participation has declined steadily over the past year.

During this decline, Arika Daniels, director of communications for the San Diego Food Bank, noted a recent survey of its 450 nonprofit partners showed a 20 percent rise in demand versus the same period last year.

She described it as "a major jump in a very short period."

"The biggest requests we are hearing right now are basic staples - milk, eggs, produce - and even gas cards," she said. "Families are trying to stretch every dollar."

Due to Trump's large tax and spending package from last year, San Diego County officials projected that 93,500 residents would face food stamp eligibility shifts and 13,000 would lose benefits tied to immigration status.

Nearly 30,000 San Diego County residents have already exited CalFresh in the 10 months since Trump signed the bill - and analysis indicates most of them, over 25,000, departed before the law's shifts for noncitizens in April and before work requirements began June 1.

The count of food stamp recipients in San Diego County decreased each month from July 2025 through May 2026, the latest month with full data.

It dropped from roughly 396,000 recipients to 367,000, an 8 percent decline, based on an inewsource review of California Department of Social Services caseload figures.

The number of local food stamp recipients had risen through 2024 and eased only slightly in early 2025. But after President Trump enacted the spending package known as H.R. 1 in July, the figures began a steady fall that continues without signs of stopping.

Experts note a lack of data to pinpoint exact causes for the initial drop, yet local service providers told inewsource the decline stems partly from concerns that receiving food stamps could harm immigration status.

Alondra Alvarado, president and CEO of the San Diego Hunger Coalition, a regional network focused on food access, said mixed-status families are withdrawing benefits for their U.S.-citizen children and legal permanent residents fear their status could be affected by accepting federal aid.

"What we are hearing from around 500 partners that we work with in San Diego County is that people are scared of their immigration status," she said.

Alvarado called it "a multilayer problem" worsened by ongoing inflation.

"A lot of people are gonna lose their benefits," she said. "They are already losing their benefits."

The Trump administration has indicated that starting in September immigration officers can consider food stamp use when evaluating applicants for permanent resident status. The prior Trump administration had a comparable policy, later withdrawn during the Biden administration.

Heightened concerns appeared as Lewis spoke with people waiting for food in San Ysidro.

One 58-year-old woman declined to apply after learning that accepting food aid might risk her permanent resident status.

"I am scared that they will come and throw me out," she said in Spanish.

Lewis noted hearing the same worry from others Thursday and continued without enrolling them.

"Before this I would have had them," she said. "But I prefer them not to be at risk."

We have not seen anything like this

The participation drop in San Diego reflects a national pattern.

A year after passage of H.R. 1, national enrollment declines in the food-stamp program, officially the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, exceed the Congressional Budget Office projections made when the bill passed.

That conclusion comes from an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

"We have not seen anything like this since the last time the program was cut about three decades ago," said Joseph Llobrera, the center's research director and a co-author of the analysis.

SNAP enrollment typically shifts with the economy, he said, but "there has not been significant improvement in overall economic conditions that would explain this drop."

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities stated the primary driver of the SNAP enrollment decline is a provision requiring states to cover part of benefit costs starting in 2028, with each state's portion based on how often it miscalculates payments.

States are working to lower those error rates.

Some states, such as Arizona, which recorded the nation's largest participation drop exceeding 50 percent, introduced policy shifts that complicate participation.

Gina Plata-Nino, the SNAP director at the Food Research and Action Center, said programmatic adjustments reduce income for grocers while complicating recipients' lives.

"It really has come at the worst possible time for American families," she said.

"This is putting states in a very difficult position. It is not solving hunger. It is actually increasing it."

Type of Content

News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.