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Minnesota Family Investment Program Minnesota House Research Department Page 10 The decision to use state funds to provide the MFIP food portion to noncitizen families who were not eligible for federally funded food assistance was originally enacted for limited time periods and was scheduled to sunset on June 30, 1999. However, the 1999 Legislature made permanent the provision of state-funded food assistance to noncitizen MFIP families who are not eligible for federally funded food assistance.14 The following table identifies the categories of noncitizens who are not eligible for the food portion of MFIP, the categories for whom the state may use federal SNAP funds to provide MFIP food assistance, and the categories for whom the state may not use federal funds, but instead uses only state funds to provide MFIP food assistance. MFIP Food Portion: Noncitizen Eligibility by Source of Funds Category of Noncitizen Eligible for federally funded food portion? Eligible for state-funded food portion? Undocumented noncitizens No No Nonimmigrant noncitizens No, with exceptions for citizens of COFA states No, with exceptions for U- visa holders Refugees; Asylees; persons granted withholding of deportation; Iraqi or Afghan Special Immigrants; persons granted Afghan or Ukrainian Humanitarian Parole and their immediate relatives while their parole period is active; Cuban/Haitian entrants; Amerasians from Vietnam; and victims of a severe form of trafficking Yes No Honorably discharged veterans or persons on active military duty, along with their spouses and dependent children Yes No Immigrants who are lawfully residing in U.S.15 and who are receiving federal assistance payments for blindness or disability (i.e., SSI or SSDI) Yes No Immigrants who were lawfully residing in U.S. on 8/22/96 who were age 65 or older on that date Yes No Immigrant children lawfully residing in U.S. who are currently under age 18 Yes No

14 See Minn. Stat. § 142G.11, subd. 2. 15 The category of “lawful permanent residents” is not the same as the category of immigrants “who were lawfully residing in the U.S.” The first category covers a smaller group than the second category, because an immigrant can be lawfully residing in the United States, but not have lawful permanent resident immigration status.