You know, there is about two-thirds of an interesting story here on how the WIC program is adding more ethnically diverse foods to its approved mix. Certainly reflects demographic changes in North Carolina and Mecklenburg and well as the growing realization that the traditional middle American farmers’ diet of the mid-20th century may not be the last in word in nutrition.
But.
Despite running through eligibilty requirements and focusing on a woman from Honduras who uses WIC to help feed her four children, reporter Danica Coto never comes out and says that WIC is available to non-citizens by federal rule. In fact, the story sees almost designed to provoke outrage from anyone troubled by non-citizens receiving WIC aid. Check out how Coto opens the story:
When Reina Rosales was pregnant with her first son, the Charlotte resident would eat eight tortillas a day.
Now that she’s pregnant again, she anticipates a similar robust appetite. And this time, the federal government might pay her grocery bill.
Federal officials are revising the menu for the Women, Infants and Children nutritional program, which provides food vouchers for needy families. Among the changes: adding foods that meet the demands of a growing immigrant population.
One of two things is going on here. Either it is a deliberate attempt to blur the signifcance of citizenship status when reporting on matters of immigration, which seems downright pointless as most readers want that information not to mention an extremely loaded position to take. Or this story is a set up — a ploy designed to provoke outrage about non-citizens receiving WIC, outrage which then be slammed as ill-informed as WIC is explicitly available to non-citizens.
As North Carolina Public Health puts it, to receive WIC you must “Be a resident of North Carolina or receive health care in North Carolina. Undocumented individuals are eligible to apply as long as they reside in the state.”
And at the risk of opening up another can of worms, this language helps explain why there is still continued interest in allowing undocumented individuals to pay in-state tuition at the UNC system. Federal, state, and local government long ago decided there was no problem with being an “undocumented resident” of any particular jurisdiction.
Just so long as you are undocumented in the proper way.
