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by Ann Anh
It hadn't taken very long, perhaps a moment......I
was standing there with my mother, a Cambodian
refugee, as she lowered her eyes to an unknown place
in the room, and within a second I watched my
mother lose her spirit...forever .
My mother was not lazy and and she never thought
she would need any help, but in fact, she did, due to
serious a illness and no healthcare or benefits she was
on welfare, and without it she and I would starve.
My mother had received welfare until the welfare
reform bill was signed which caused, among other
things, the end of food stamps and disability benefits
for countless legal non-citizens, like my mother.
My mother had worked for years as an attendant to a
disabled woman whose family didn't have the time or
love in their hearts to care for their own mother. My
mother also worked as a babysitter, janitor, cook, and
maid until she was so ill from a serious lung infection
that she could no longer get out of bed. My mother
worked until she could no longer move, but that is
not what broke her spirit. therefrom."
It was a strangely sunny day when we walked into the
food stamps office and the eligibility worker told my
mother and I that we were going to be cut off from
receiving benefits, "and besides, isn't it time you got a job,
Mrs Anh,..."
I was reminded of that hurtful day, four years ago, this
Monday when the Supreme Court refused to review
Congress's 1996 welfare overhaul. One of the famous
quotes from Congress at the time was, " The national
policy with respect to Welfare and immigration is
self-sufficiency, Immigrants who come to live in the
United States should not depend on public resources to
meet their needs"
Since then, Congress has backtracked a bit and restored
benefits for several groups of immigrants. They include
those who are disabled and blind, those over age 65 and
under 18. Lawyers for the cities of Chicago and New York
went to court seeking to have the food stamps and other
benefits restored to all legal noncitizens. They maintained
that the policy amounted to discrimination against lawful
residents in violation of the Constitution's guarantee of
equal protection under the law. The 7th Circuit Court of
Appeals in Chicago disagreed, ruling that Congress has
broad power to set rules for immigrants and non citizens.
My mother died last year, I am not sure what finally killed
her physical body, but I do know what killed her spirit.
And I do know that her need for help had nothing to do
with her lack of "self-sufficiency" | 
