Oregon lawmakers and food advocates are starting smaller this year in their bid to make cash food benefits available to immigrants who are ineligible under federal rules.

After failing to get a bill passed in 2023, they’ve narrowed the group who would be eligible for state aid to children and youth and older people at risk of hunger.

In 2023, supporters unsuccessfully lobbied for the passage of a proposal that would have provided state funding to provide food benefits to about 62,000 immigrants. Food for All Oregonians, a coalition of more than 160 organizations and the Oregon Food Bank, wants to see all immigrants get the food benefits they would otherwise qualify for through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

About 770,000 Oregonians receive SNAP food benefits, representing nearly 447,000 households. In November, $138.4 million in benefits were issued for food, an average of $309 a month for each family. To qualify, individuals can earn up to $2,510 and a family of four can earn up to $5,200 a month.

On Monday, advocates said they are pushing for a scaled-down version, Senate Bill 611, that would provide state-funded food benefits to immigrants who are under 26 years old or 55 and older and are ineligible for SNAP benefits because of their immigrant status. The 2023 bill which died in a budget subcommittee, would have included all ineligible immigrants, regardless of their age.

“This bill isn’t just about food — it’s about building a stronger, more equitable Oregon where everyone has the opportunity to thrive,” said Wlnsvey Campos, D-Aloha, and a chief sponsor of the bill.

The group includes undocumented immigrants and residents under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. It also includes legal permanent residents who have not yet been in the U.S. for five years, which generally is required for SNAP benefits.

“Our seniors who are very vulnerable to food insecurity, and our children – those are the two populations that this particular bill is focused on,” Andrea Williams, president of the Oregon Food Bank, said in an interview. Now we don’t want to stop there. We would eventually like every age.”

Advocates don’t yet know how many people of the 62,000 fall within the two age groups, or what the costs would be.

The issue comes amid heightened attention on immigrant issues, including President Donald Trump’s signals of potential mass deportations of such immigrants, an end to refugee admissions and cuts in the federal social safety net.

“These policies are in direct opposition to our values as Oregonians,” Andrea Williams, president of the Oregon Food Bank, said Monday at a rally at the Capitol in Salem. . “Oregon can and must lead by example.”

There also is bipartisan support.

Campos said her current bill has one Republican co-sponsor — Rep. and farmer Mark Owens of Crane — and she is working on getting a Republican co-sponsor in the Senate.

Her 2023 bill cleared the Senate Human Services Committee but died without a vote in a joint budget subcommittee.

David Soria Garcia of Tillamook, who sits on the policy leadership council of the food bank and attended the rally, said he knows what it’s like to be hungry.

“I know the feeling of wondering if you will make it through the week while carrying the hopes and dreams of your family,” Soria Garcia said. “But it is that struggle and that determination to create a better life that causes me to be here today — advocating for a future where no one has to go hungry.”

Williams said that easing hunger has other benefits.

“When families have access to SNAP, their chances of being evicted from their houses are less,” she said. “They are going to keep their jobs for longer, their kids are going to do better in school. This is tied together. We are making the case that food for Oregonians is part of the state’s priorities.”

The Oregon Latino Health Coalition, part of the coalition, noted the role of immigrants in working to provide food for Oregonians, even as they cannot access SNAP.

“Access to nourishing food is a fundamental aspect of health,” said Andrea Vanessa Castillo, policy and advocacy manager at Oregon Latino Health Coalition. “Immigrants and refugees are vital — they help put food on the table for families across our state. Yet, they remain excluded from essential benefits like SNAP.”

Partly because of their lack of access to food, Castillo said the incidence of type-2 diabetes is higher among Latinos and other groups.

Six states, including California and Washington, have food assistance programs for noncitizens, according to a 2023 report by the Food Research & Action Center, an anti-poverty advocacy and research group based in Washington D.C. A total of 18 states began such programs after Congress barred food aid to noncitizens in a 1996 law. Congress later changed the law to allow such aid to immigrants who have been legal residents for five years.

Williams said the bill is the top priority for the anti-hunger coalition, but she acknowledged that it has to dovetail with other steps, such as Gov. Tina Kotek’s proposals to expand housing construction.

“Until we can address all of these upstream issues, we are going to keep seeing high demand,” she said. “We know that is within the power of the government to do.”

Outside the SNAP program, demand for food assistance is high. Oregonians made 2.5 million visits in 2024 to the Oregon Food Bank network’s 1,400 sites, an increase of 31%. They distributed nearly 100 million pounds.