It has just been exposed that 59% of all illegals in this country are collecting food stamps, and that most of the people receiving food stamps paid for by US taxpayers aren’t even American.

1. What the viral claim actually says — and why it’s misleading

The viral assertion combines two ideas: that 59% of “all illegals” receive SNAP and that most SNAP recipients are noncitizens. That 59% figure appears to come from a finding that 59% of households headed by immigrants in the U.S. illegally use at least one major means-tested benefit, not that 59% of undocumented individuals receive SNAP specifically ^[5]. The distinction between households using any benefit and individuals receiving a particular program is vital. Government data and independent analyses repeatedly state that undocumented immigrants are ineligible for federal SNAP, and when noncitizens do appear in SNAP counts they are typically lawfully present immigrants or U.S.-citizen members of mixed-status households ^{[1] [2] [6]}. Conflating household-level benefit use with individual SNAP receipt produces a misleading headline.

2. What the government and recent studies actually report

USDA and related reporting show that approximately 89–90% of SNAP recipients are U.S.-born citizens, with naturalized citizens raising the citizen share to about 95.6% of participants; noncitizens form a small share of beneficiaries ^{[2] [3]}. A recent April 2025 report found 1.5 million noncitizens received SNAP in FY2022 with $4.2 billion in benefits, and noted undocumented people remain ineligible although they can be in households receiving benefits ^[1]. Other analyses estimate noncitizen SNAP participants account for about 4–5% of total SNAP spending and recipients in recent years, contradicting the claim that most SNAP beneficiaries are not American ^[4].

3. Why the 59% figure keeps getting repurposed — and how sources disagree

The 59% statistic is correctly cited in one place as the share of households headed by an undocumented immigrant that use at least one means-tested program, which includes Medicaid, TANF, housing assistance and more — not SNAP alone ^[5]. Some commentators use that household-level welfare measure to imply broad SNAP use among undocumented people; other reputable analyses — including USDA and think-tank studies — show noncitizens use less welfare per capita than natives and account for a minor fraction of SNAP beneficiaries ^{[7] [4]}. The disagreement stems from different metrics (household vs. individual, any benefit vs. specific program) and from conflating legal categories (noncitizen, lawful permanent resident, undocumented).

4. Bigger context: program rules, household composition, and politics

Federal SNAP rules largely exclude undocumented immigrants from eligibility, yet mixed-status households with U.S. citizen children can receive benefits; this explains why noncitizens can appear in program statistics without implying direct undocumented participation ^{[1] [8]}. Studies also show immigrants overall use less welfare per capita than native-born Americans, and projections about future costs often depend on migration scenarios and policy changes rather than current participation rates ^{[7] [1]}. Political actors and advocacy groups sometimes highlight selective metrics to advance policy goals; readers should note when a statistic describes any benefit use versus program-specific receipt, and when it describes households rather than individuals.

5. Bottom line — what readers should take away

The claim that 59% of undocumented immigrants collect food stamps and that most SNAP recipients aren’t American is false when compared with available data: noncitizens represent a small slice of SNAP participants and nearly 90% of recipients are U.S.-born citizens ^{[2] [3] [4]}. The 59% figure has a factual basis only when describing households headed by undocumented immigrants using at least one means-tested program, which is not the same as individual undocumented receipt of SNAP ^[5]. For accurate assessment, use program-level USDA data and clear distinctions between household versus individual measures and between lawfully present versus undocumented noncitizens ^{[1] [8]}.