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Opinion polls find that rural or nonmetro residents are more likely to agree that there are too many immigrants in the US, and that immigrants take jobs from US workers, than urban and suburban residents. In a Summer 2004 NPR poll of 1,900 adults, 1,100 US born and 800 foreign born. There were few differences between the US-born and immigrants in response to questions about immigration, for instance, 52 percent of the US born agreed there were too many immigrants, compared to 50 percent of the immigrants, although the immigrants were more likely to agree that "recent immigrants" have been good for the US. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4062605)

The last question on the survey, D25, asked respondents if they were urban, suburban, or rural. The total sample was 21 percent rural, 45 percent suburban, and 33 percent urban, but there was a significant difference between the US-born and immigrant samples. The US-born were 24 percent urban (three percent of the immigrants), 44 percent suburban (54 percent of immigrants), and 32 percent urban (43 percent of immigrants).

Some 62 percent of rural residents, compared to 51 percent of urban residents and 54 percent of suburban residents, agreed that there were too many immigrants in the US today; 57 percent of the rural residents, compared to 41 percent of urban and 51 percent of suburban residents, agreed that migrants take jobs that Americans want.

Rural residents' attitudes emphasizing the costs of immigrants may reflect the characteristics of the foreign-born in rural areas. Most immigrants to rural areas have less than high-school educations, and such immigrants tend to impose more costs on state and local governments.

Food Stamps. The US spent about $50 billion in FY05 on five major food assistance programs administered by USDA. Food Stamps is the largest program, spending $30 billion to provide electronic debit cards that can be used to purchase food for about 25 million Americans each month; the value of the cards is about $95 a month. The Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and National School Lunch Programs spend about $5 billion a year each to provide an average eight million persons with supplemental foods and nutrition education (WIC), and to provide 30 million school children with free or reduced price lunches (NSLP).

The School Breakfast Program spends $2 billion a year to provide free breakfasts to nine million children, and the Child and Adult Care Food Program spends about $2 billion a year to provide food assistance in child and adult care centers.

Food stamps are the major federal food assistance program, providing coupons or cards worth about $200 a month per family to 25 million poor residents in 2005 that can be used to purchase food http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/). About 55 percent of all eligible persons receive Food Stamps, but only a quarter of the elderly eligible.

The 1996 IRRIRA made legal immigrants arriving after August 22, 1996 ineligible for food stamps until they had worked for 40 quarters or 10 years in the US (immigrants may naturalize after five years US legal residence, but the process sometimes takes several years. In addition, some poor legal immigrants already in the US lost their Food Stamp benefits, but subsequent legislation restored benefits to elderly immigrants and immigrant children.
http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/rules/Memo/02/POLIMGRT.HTM

The 2002 Farm Bill reduced the 10-year wait for Food Stamps for otherwise eligible legal immigrants to five years, and made legal immigrant children, regardless of when they entered the US, eligible for Food Stamp benefits. Legislation pending in November 2005 would increase the wait for Food Stamps from five to seven years http://www.cbpp.org/5-1-02fa.htm).