Bread for the World believes immigration is a hunger issue. Migrants leave their home countries to escape deep hunger and poverty, but many remain at high risk of hunger and poverty once they arrive in the United States due to our broken immigration system.
While reducing poverty may not be the primary goal of most immigration reform efforts, it should certainly be one of its clear goals.
Studies indicate immigration contributes to U.S. economic growth and higher incomes for most Americans, including those born here.
People who make the decision to leave home and come to the United States generally have few other options. Central America’s “Northern Triangle” countries—Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras—are among the poorest in the world, with very high levels of hunger and malnutrition. Nearly half of Guatemala’s children are chronically malnourished, along with nearly 20 percent of children in Honduras and El Salvador.
Once here, Central American immigrants generally want to work and contribute, but may become isolated by a combination of factors, such as poverty, limited English proficiency, and discrimination. In fact, undocumented immigrants suffer disproportionately from food insecurity. This is true even though they earn more money here than in their home countries.
No group of immigrants is more harmed by hunger and poverty than those without documentation. Lack of legal status contributes to their economic insecurity and exploitation. It also means they have limited access to the social safety net in the United States.
Poverty persists among undocumented immigrants even though they participate in the workforce at higher rates than either citizens or documented immigrants. Our economy depends upon the hard work of undocumented immigrants but does not adequately compensate them.
Bread supports immigration reform because a substantial percentage of undocumented immigrants in the United States live in poverty and because comprehensive immigration reform, with a pathway to citizenship, would help them escape hunger.
We advocate for legislation that ensures a place at the table for everyone in the U.S., regardless of legal status. And we anticipate that hundreds of thousands of people would move out of hunger and poverty almost immediately if they were given a pathway to citizenship.
Bread for the World adds specific value to the immigration reform discussion by focusing on its root causes: hunger and poverty in home countries. We believe any comprehensive immigration reform policy must include poverty-focused assistance to address the root causes of migration.
Bread is working to end hunger in the U.S. and around the world. This can be accomplished by comprehensive immigration reform in the U.S. that includes a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented and poverty-focused development assistance to address the root causes of migration from Central America.
These fact sheets provide a snapshot of hunger and poverty in the United States and in each state plus Washington, D.C.
We cannot end hunger in the U.S. without raising the minimum wage.
Better nutrition is a necessary component of a country’s capacity to achieve development goals such as economic growth and improved public health.
Dear Members of Congress,
As the president and Congress are preparing their plans for this year, almost 100 church leaders—from all the families of U.S. Christianity—are...
This devotional guide invites deepened relationship with and among Pan-African people and elected leaders in the mission to end hunger and poverty.
Thank you for inviting me to preach here at Duke University Chapel. And I especially want to thank the Bread for the World members who have come this morning.
Bruce Puckett urged...
Bread for the World and its partners are asking Congress to provide $150 million for global nutrition in the fiscal year 2020 budget.
These fact sheets provide a snapshot of hunger and poverty in the United States and in each state plus Washington, D.C.
In 2017, 11.8 percent of households in the U.S.—40 million people—were food-insecure, meaning that they were unsure at some point during the year about how they would provide for their next meal.