On Wednesday morning, volunteers unloaded boxes of fresh produce like cauliflower and strawberries, and shelf-stable food like canned chicken noodle soup and peanut butter, at Metro Villas Apartments in City Heights.
Medina Husen has been coming to this food distribution for a decade. She loves the kale especially, and cooks it up with tomato and onion and Maggi Seasoning.
It helps feed her family of five, especially after she cut back on work hours to go to nursing school.
This month, the Trump administration ended federal nutrition assistance eligibility for many immigrant groups, including asylees, refugees, trafficking survivors, abuse victims and Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion. The program is known as CalFresh in California.
The change was passed last summer as part of Republicans’ “Big Beautiful Bill,” and took effect April 1.
The cuts apply to nearly 13,000 San Diego County residents, according to the City Heights Community Development Corporation (CDC), who runs the distribution.
Husen still has her CalFresh benefits, but she hears from others who are losing them.
“I do hear, you know, people getting terrorized by, you know, whether or not they will be able to, you know, feed the family the whole month,” she said.
City Heights CDC staff said about one-third of the area’s residents are foreign-born. They’re working to expand their food programs following the federal cuts.
“It's already a vulnerable population, right? Folks are coming into this country. Some of them, you know, they might not speak English, it might be just their second language,” said Javier Gomez, the organization’s chief advising officer.
He said food distributions like this one become even more important as fear of immigration enforcement grows and families are avoiding restaurants and grocery stores.
The cuts have ripple effects, he said. They force choices between groceries and gas, medical and light bills.
And when the federal government cuts the benefits, “it’s not just cutting it for the adult or it’s not just cutting it for the elder, right? It’s cutting it for the children in the household. It’s cutting it for the whole family,” he said.
The City Heights CDC has been getting more calls for food assistance, Gomez said.
“We're seeing a spike of need, but we know that's just the tip of it and it's just starting,” he said.
CalFresh recipients affected by the cuts will not be able to renew their benefits when they expire, meaning the need will grow over time.
As the federal government slashes the safety net beneath them, Husen has hope in the strength of her City Heights community. She believes neighbors will help each other.
