According to the authors, these three states represent a high percentage of the total number of legal immigrants residing in the United States. More than one in three of the immigrant households surveyed reported suffering from moderate or severe hunger, meaning that adults and children were experiencing hunger caused by lack of resources. The authors report that, in each of the states covered by the survey, when food stamps were terminated for legal immigrants on a national level, temporary measures for only partial replacement of food stamps occurred at the state level. This estimate means that 29 percent of children under age 12 in the United States live in families that must cope with hunger or the risk of hunger during some part of one or more months of the year. Using a national survey of emergency feeding programs, Second Harvest National Food Bank Network found that the food bank network of emergency food providers serves more than 25.7 million people in a year.
Children make up a significant portion of emergency food clients.
Nearly 38 percent of emergency food clients surveyed were age 17 or younger. In their annual reports on hunger and homelessness, the U.S. Conference of Mayors have documented the level of demand for emergency food and shelter in major cities across the nation since 1983. In 1997, requests for emergency food increased in the survey cities by an average of 16 percent over the previous year. The number of families with children requesting assistance increased by 13 percent. Overall, fifty-eight percent of those requesting emergency food assistance were members of families.