The end of federal food aid could hit Black Americans hardest

NEW YORK (AP) — In one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the nation, a line stretched along the side of the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen and Pantry.

Willy Hilaire is homeless, unemployed and 63. He lives in a New York shelter with his two grandchildren and often goes hungry so that they can eat the food he gets from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

On many days, Hilaire’s only food is a hot meal he gets from Holy Apostles in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. With SNAP at risk, he worries there won't be enough for him and the children, forcing more sacrifice.

“I always tell them, ‘Grandpa is there for you,'” he said. "'Whatever I have, I’ll give it to you.’”

Two federal judges ruled nearly simultaneously on Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration must continue to fund SNAP, the nation’s biggest food aid program, using contingency funds during the government shutdown. But officials said it was too late to stop recipients from losing benefits on Saturday and that restoring them could likely take at least one week.

One in eight Americans use SNAP but its halt will disproportionately hurt Black Americans like Hilaire. Black people are 12.6% of the population but more than a quarter of SNAP recipients, the largest overrepresentation of any ethnic or racial group.. Other racial groups get SNAP at rates lower than their overall share of the population.

Historians and advocates say that's an example of what's known as systemic racism. There may be no formally racist policy at play but America’s long history of racism — from slavery to unfair zoning rules — has left Black communities with a series of structural disadvantages, and far less wealth accumulated over generations.

Non-Hispanic white people are 58.1% of the population but just 35.4% of SNAP recipients, the latest data show.

Hispanic people and Asian people are underrepresented in the SNAP statistics. And Native Americans get SNAP at basically the same rate that their group is in the general population.

Asian Americans living in poverty face constraints like lack of English fluency and neighborhood gentrification. In New York City, 253,000 of the 1.5 million Asian residents use SNAP, according to the nonprofit Asian American Federation. Over 91% of them work. But, with limited English proficiency, many are limited in their job opportunities, said CEO Catherine Chen. Families who have lived comfortably in cultural enclaves like Chinatown for one or two generations are getting priced out.

A majority of adult SNAP recipients who can work, do. Some still qualify for SNAP — typically $187 a month — despite holding down one or more jobs, according to nonprofit advocates. They’re often low-wage jobs without benefits like paid sick days.

A report by the National Urban League last year found that the racial income gap has been virtually unchanged for more than 20 years, with Black Americans making 64% of the income of white people, on average.

“There’s so much discrimination in the work force, so much discrimination in America today, that Black people who were enslaved and segregated for 350 years are still fighting for economic parity,” said Marc Morial, president of the civil rights group. “While we have a growing number of African American, middle-class Americans, we still have a disproportionate number of poor (Black) Americans.”

At the current pace, it would take anywhere from one to three centuries for most Black Americans to achieve parity with their white peers, depending on where they live, according to the McKinsey Institute for Black Economic Mobility.

This year Black unemployment rose from 6.2% to 7.5%, the highest level since October 2021. Black homeownership fell to the lowest level in four years, according to an analysis by the real estate brokerage Redfin. The Census Bureau found the median Black household income fell 3.3% last year to $56,020. That’s around $36,000 less than what a white household earns.

The looming absence of grocery dollars would almost certainly make it harder for families to afford rent, gas and other expenses. Even if SNAP benefits are restored before November ends, nonprofit leaders say low-income residents could face financial setbacks into next year.

For tribal nations, food and nutrition assistance programs are part of the U.S. government’s trust and treaty responsibilities — the government's legal and moral obligations to fund tribes' health and well-being. The U.S. promised to uphold those rights in exchange for the land and resources it took from Indigenous peoples.

However, those rights continue to be chronically underfunded and uniquely vulnerable to government shutdowns, according to a report released last week by the Brookings Institution. The study found that in 2024, more than two-thirds of trust and treaty responsibilities were funded through discretionary spending, meaning they are not guaranteed during a shutdown. It also noted that one of the largest sources of mandatory spending owed to tribes comes in the form of SNAP benefits.

Another U.S. Department of Agriculture program that provides food to income-eligible Native American households, the Food Distribution Program in Indian Reservations, is still operating. But Native Americans already enrolled in SNAP cannot participate in that program. FDPIR President Mary Greene-Trottier said in October that her agency asked USDA Undersecretary Patrick Penn for a waiver, which the agency has granted for November, according to a letter Greene-Trottier received on Friday.

She expects to see a substantial increase in demand for her program once SNAP benefits are shut off.

“I’ve heard the pleas from the people in the community and outside the community that are just really concerned with not having enough food to eat and the choices between paying medical bills or utility bills that are increasing,” Greene-Trottier said.

“I can’t say this loud enough, but this is the weaponization of food again,” she said, a reference to the U.S. government’s historic policies of withholding or cutting off food supplies to starve out tribal nations during the country’s expansion.

Meanwhile, tribal nations across the country — including Spirit Lake Nation, Cherokee Nation, Blackfeet Nation, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Shawnee Tribe — declared states of emergency ahead of the loss of SNAP benefits.

The disproportionate need for food stamps among non-white households has contributed to misinformation and stereotypes. Starting in the 1960s the term “welfare queen” became popular, playing to assumptions that poor people of color were profiting off government assistance rather than looking for work.

But two-thirds of the over 40 million SNAP beneficiaries are people you wouldn't expect to work. Thirty-nine percent are children, 20% are elderly and 10% are children or non-elderly adults with disabilities, according to the Urban Institute.

Pastor Cleo Lewis, who usually conducts street ministry in Phoenix, organized a food drive for the first time to cushion the blow as much as possible for the 30 families he counsels at a local shelter

“We usually are dealing with areas that are spiritually related,” Lewis said. “Now we’re having to increase our presence, and dealing with issues of substance and material issues that we know are significant, but we relied on other professionals to deal with this.”

Tang reported from Phoenix. Brewer reported from Norman, Oklahoma. Associated Press data journalist Kasturi Pananjady in Philadelphia and reporter Matt Brown in Washington contributed to this report.

FILE - Brock Brooks, a disable Marine Corps veteran, cries while describing the impending SNAP shutdowns while waiting in line to enter the food pantry service at Calvary Episcopal Church on Oct. 30, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry, file)

FILE - Community members wait in line to enter the food pantry service at Calvary Episcopal Church on Oct. 30, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry, file)

FILE - Volunteers work to package meals during the food pantry service at Calvary Episcopal Church on Oct. 30, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry, file)

FILE - A banner reads: "EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) Accepted Here," at El Recuerdo Market in Los Angeles, Oct. 31, 2025, after two federal judges ordered President Donald Trump's administration to continue funding SNAP during the government shutdown. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, file)

A volunteer helps gather bags of food at the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen and Pantry in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York, on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Joseph B. Frederick)

A federal appeals panel on Thursday reversed a lower court decision that released former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil from an immigration jail, bringing the government one step closer to detaining and ultimately deporting the Palestinian activist.

The three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals didn’t decide the key issue in Khalil’s case: whether the Trump administration’s effort to throw Khalil out of the U.S. over his campus activism and criticism of Israel is unconstitutional.

But in its 2-1 decision, the panel ruled a federal judge in New Jersey didn’t have jurisdiction to decide the matter at this time. Federal law requires the case to fully move through the immigration courts first, before Khalil can challenge the decision, they wrote.

“That scheme ensures that petitioners get just one bite at the apple — not zero or two,” the panel wrote. “But it also means that some petitioners, like Khalil, will have to wait to seek relief for allegedly unlawful government conduct.”

Thursday’s decision marked a major win for the Trump administration’s sweeping campaign to detain and deport noncitizens who joined protests against Israel.

Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security Department spokesperson, called the ruling “a vindication of the rule of law.”

In a statement, she said the department will “work to enforce his lawful removal order” and encouraged Khalil to “self-deport now before he is arrested, deported, and never given a chance to return.”

It was not clear whether the government would seek to detain Khalil, a legal permanent resident, again while his legal challenges continue.

In a statement distributed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Khalil called the appeals ruling “deeply disappointing."

“The door may have been opened for potential re-detainment down the line, but it has not closed our commitment to Palestine and to justice and accountability," he said. "I will continue to fight, through every legal avenue and with every ounce of determination, until my rights, and the rights of others like me, are fully protected.”

Baher Azmy, one of Khalil's lawyers, said the ruling was “contrary to rulings of other federal courts."

“Our legal options are by no means concluded, and we will fight with every available avenue,” he said.

The ACLU said the Trump administration cannot lawfully re-detain Khalil until the order takes formal effect, which won't happen while he can still immediately appeal.

Khalil’s lawyers can request that the panel's decision be set aside and the matter reconsidered by a larger group of judges on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, or they can go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

An outspoken leader of the pro-Palestinian movement at Columbia, Khalil was arrested last March. He then spent three months detained in a Louisiana immigration jail, missing the birth of his first child.

Federal officials have accused Khalil of leading activities “aligned to Hamas,” though they have not presented evidence to support the claim and have not accused him of criminal conduct. They also accused Khalil, 31, of failing to disclose information on his green card application.

The government justified the arrest under a seldom-used statute that allows for the expulsion of noncitizens whose beliefs are deemed to pose a threat to U.S. foreign policy interests.

In June, a federal judge in New Jersey ruled that justification would likely be declared unconstitutional and ordered Khalil released.

President Donald Trump's administration appealed that ruling, arguing the deportation decision should fall to an immigration judge, rather than a federal court.

Khalil has dismissed the allegations as “baseless and ridiculous,” framing his arrest and detention as a “direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza.”

New York City’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, said on social media Thursday that Khalil should remain free.

“Last year’s arrest of Mahmoud Khalil was more than just a chilling act of political repression, it was an attack on all of our constitutional rights,” Mamdani wrote on X. “Now, as the crackdown on pro-Palestinian free speech continues, Mahmoud is being threatened with rearrest. Mahmoud is free — and must remain free.”

Judge Arianna Freeman dissented Thursday, writing that her colleagues were holding Khalil to the wrong legal standard. Khalil, she wrote, is raising “now-or-never claims” that can be handled at the district court level, even though his immigration case isn't complete.

Both judges who ruled against Khalil, Thomas Hardiman and Stephanos Bibas, were Republican appointees. President George W. Bush appointed Hardiman to the 3rd Circuit, while Trump appointed Bibas. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, appointed Freeman.

The two-judge majority rejected Freeman's worry that their decision would leave Khalil with no remedy for unconstitutional immigration detention, even if he later can appeal.

“But our legal system routinely forces petitioners — even those with meritorious claims — to wait to raise their arguments," the judges wrote.

The decision comes as an appeals board in the immigration court system weighs a previous order that found Khalil could be deported to Algeria, where he maintains citizenship through a distant relative, or Syria, where he was born in a refugee camp to a Palestinian family.

His attorneys have said he faces mortal danger if forced to return to either country.

Associated Press writers Larry Neumeister and Anthony Izaguirre contributed to this story.

FILE - Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil holds a news conference outside Federal Court on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025 in Philadelphia (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)