SNAP changes impact Ukrainian family living in Lincoln
By Anthony D’Agostino, KOLN
(October 21, 2025)
New rules for SNAP went into effect on Monday, removing exemptions for veterans, homeless people and individuals aging out of the foster care system.
Other changes include that people between the ages of 18 and 64 have to be working and the age of a dependent child has been reduced to 13 and under. The changes are already causing concern for refugees and people here on something called Humanitarian Parole.
The new rules also exclude people who are not citizens and people who don’t have a green card.
Alex is Ukrainian and came to the U.S. in 2023 after Russia invaded his homeland. He wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from ICE and U.S. Immigration officials processing his paperwork.
When he showed up he was granted humanitarian parole, allowing him to stay and work in the U.S. for two years before having to re-apply. This type of parole allows him to be here, but does not mean he has been formally admitted to the country.
Alex was allowed to re-apply six months before the parole expired in August. It’s October and he has not received word from USCIS if he’s approved.
Until then, he cannot legally work in the U.S., and when he applied for SNAP he got turned away.
“I am here,” Alex said. “I am legal. I am just waiting answer for my apply.”
A local nonprofit said the wait time to get approved can be more than a year. Now even if he gets his job back, if and when his parole application is approved, he wouldn’t be eligible for SNAP because he’s not a citizen or green card holder.
Other immigrants who have large families and used SNAP to help offset grocery costs will have to find other ways to get food.
“I know some guys who have five, six, seven childs in the family and these people have not received snap, it’s terrible,” Alex said.
For organizations that help refugees, like the Orel Alliance in Omaha, they are worried about how they will be able to help everyone that will need it.
“We will do everything we can,” Alex said. “But we don’t have endless financial resources to just go out and buy groceries. We don’t have endless volunteer or staff manpower to take people to food pantries. The food pantries also are facing astronomically increased demands.”
10/11 News reached out to the Food Bank in Lincoln to see how they think these changes will affect them. They said they are having an impromptu meeting on Tuesday to discuss SNAP and will hopefully have information on Wednesday.
