Deadline extended for low-income Texas families to apply for ‘pandemic’ benefit subbing for lost school meals

BY ROBERT T. GARRETT

A key distinction, she said, is that undocumented immigrant schoolchildren who receive free or reduced-price meals at school are eligible for P-EBT, and the one-time benefit doesn’t count toward a “public charge” rule that disadvantages immigrants who apply for legal permanent status if they take government aid.

Although P-EBT was coordinated with the food stamp program — families already on food stamps were given the school meal credit on their Lone Star Cards in late May or June — families not on food stamps get “a slightly different card,” Cooper explained.

Five years of legal residency is required for adults to qualify for food stamps or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, she said. Undocumented immigrants can’t apply.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the food stamp or SNAP program, gave states flexibility to suspend evaluating every six months whether an individual or household was still eligible “and instead focus their energies on new applications” caused by widespread layoffs, Cooper said.

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