As Millions Feel SNAP Freeze Under Trump, Ukrainian Refugees Lose Food Aid Entirely
All Rise News obtained letters showing that Trump's government knocked Ukrainian refugees off food assistance keeping them from hunger.
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For the first time in United States history, the federal government suspended food assistance to roughly 42 million people as of Nov. 1, but Ukrainian war refugees started receiving letters knocking them off the program as a matter of policy even before that date, All Rise News has learned.
The advocacy group Hope for Ukraine shared letters received by Ukrainian war refugees informing them that they would no longer be eligible for the program.
“Effective October 24, 2025, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will have its eligible alien groups redefined,” one of the letters states. “Only U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents (LAPR), Cubans and Haitians, and individuals residing under a Compact of Free Association (CoFA) will qualify for SNAP.”
In an interview, Hope for Ukraine’s CEO Yuriy Boyechko told All Rise News that letters like these sent a “shockwave that came through our office and through the entire community.”
“So basically, they have a choice: Pay the rent and not eat, or eat,” Boyechko said. “So it’s a very serious crisis that we are entering right now.”
Possible action item: Mutual aid
As SNAP benefits go dry, food banks stepped up to help the hungry in New York, Boston, D.C., and elsewhere. To help affected refugees, consider supporting Hope for Ukraine.
War refugees fleeing Russian aggression came into the United States by the thousands as part of a Joe Biden-era program Uniting for Ukraine (U4U), extending humanitarian parole to protect those who fled Russia’s invasion.
Donald Trump paused new applications to the program, but his so-called Big Beautiful Bill inflicted what Boyechko called the “cruelest cut.”
“The Big Beautiful Bill actually targeted the most vulnerable population that’s in the United States: We’re talking about Ukrainian war refugees here, but it touches not only Ukrainian war refugees,” Boyechko said. “It touches everyone who’s here under Temporary Protective Status (TPS) that doesn’t have any long-term legal way to stay here.”
Trump has targeted the TPS program in an effort to deport hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war, unrest and emergencies out of the country — so far, with the blessing of the Supreme Court.
“They have nowhere to go because most of them here came from the areas where the homes have been destroyed by war,” Boyechko added. “And here in the United States, they’re in a legal limbo because they don’t know if their temporary status will be extended. Now the SNAP benefits [are] gone.”
Trump’s U.S. Department of Agriculture did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The agency’s auto-reply message currently has the following partisan attack: “Due to staff furloughs resulting from the Radical Left Democrat shutdown, the typical monitoring of this press inbox may be impacted.”
On Thursday, a federal judge gave the Trump administration one day to fully fund SNAP benefits to the states, but Trump’s Justice Department appealed the decision to the intermediate appellate court and then the Supreme Court. The First Circuit denied Trump’s request, but Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued an administrative stay allowing the government to temporarily delay funding,
Legal experts believe that Justice Jackson issued that ruling because Trump’s Justice Department otherwise would have sought — and potentially obtained — emergency relief from the full Supreme Court. In her stay, Jackson fast-tracked Trump’s ongoing appeal in a way that could ultimately expedite a full resolution.
No matter how it resolves, many Ukrainian war refugees will be unable to obtain food assistance under the new policy.
Watch the video of the full interview with Boyechko below.
Thanks Adam: this action of the administration is worse than cruel it is barbaric and abhorrent. May the all choke on their filet mignon. The way Trump slow walks everything through the courts is just sickening.
Thank you for bringing attention to this devastating development, Adam. This is the first I have heard of it, and I will listen to tomorrow’s conversation to learn more.