As the federal government shutdown continues, millions of Americans risk losing access to food stamps beginning Nov. 1. Much of the attention has focused on the 42 million citizens who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), but little coverage has been placed on non-citizens who also receive benefits.

Earlier this year, the conservative think tank Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) revealed that nearly 1.5 million non-citizens received food stamps from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Another 2.2 million children living with non-citizens were also on food stamps. Given that this data was from fiscal year 2022, it's likely this population of non-citizens leeching off American taxpayers is much higher, given the Biden-Harris regime's globalist-aligned open-border invasion of third-worlders.

"These nearly 1.5 million non-citizens collected a total of $4.2 billion in Food Stamp benefit payments," EPIC's Matthew Dickerson wrote in the note.

Dickerson continued:

California led the way in enrolling non-citizens on Food Stamps, with 273,000 in FY 2022. Florida had 238,000, New York 218,000, Texas 132,000, and Illinois 73,000 non-citizens. In contrast, Delaware, Mississippi, Montana, West Virginia, and Wyoming reported no non-citizens on Food Stamps.

The analyst emphasized, "Billions in Benefits for Illegal Aliens"...

Long-standing public charge policies of the United States have expected immigrants to be self-sufficient and not reliant upon government benefit programs.

Despite the public charge doctrine, the federal government provides billions in benefits each year to non-citizens, including illegal aliens. As the USDA notes, "undocumented individuals" are not supposed to be eligible for Food Stamps. However, the Biden-Harris Administration abused loopholes to confer "status," such as parole or a deferral from deportation, to millions of illegal aliens, qualifying them for welfare programs as part of its catch-and-release agenda.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the surge in illegal immigration from Biden's border policies will cause $15 billion in Food Stamp benefits to be paid to illegal immigrants and their children by FY 2024.

Securing the border is one of the most important priorities of the American people. The budget reconciliation process will allow Congress and the Trump Administration to take serious steps to crack down on the chaos at the border. This should include closing the loopholes and cutting off the billions in welfare benefits that are spent on illegal aliens.

Also, Democrats have been using the shutdown to pressure Republicans for the restoration of taxpayer-funded health insurance for illegal aliens. That funding was eliminated when Republicans delivered working families tax cuts that include no tax on tips, overtime, and Social Security, as well as major health care reforms that expand access and flexibility while reducing fraud and improper payments in the system.

It appears that illegals are a net drain on government services. 

Meanwhile, the American Federation of Government Employees, a labor union representing U.S. government employees, called on Democrats to support a GOP-backed funding bill to end the shutdown and avert further pain for the American people.

So, illegals are being propped up on the taxpayers' dime, allowing Democrats to weaponize this population in future elections as part of their broader scheme to establish a one-party rule through mass illegal migration. Cut the food stamps and handouts to illegals, and perhaps these folks would simply return home.