Do you have to be a us citizen to get food stamps?

A friend of mine gets virtually no monetary support from his father, and he works a minimum wage job. He lives on his own and has to pay rent and bills and all that. I suggested food stamps, but he’s a British citizen, here as a permanent resident alien....

Is he eligible?

If he has a permanent resident card, aka, 'green card' then I believe he's eligible. He can call the local count office to clarify, but as far as I recall, if you're a legal, permanent resident, you can get help.

To qualify for food stamps. . . .
you are a U.S. citizen or your children are U.S. citizens OR
you are an immigrant with legal status and have lived in the U.S. for 5 or more years OR
you are an immigrant with legal status and are disabled AND
your children are citizens or immigrants with legal status
you do not have a lot of money in the bank or in other kinds of accounts
http://www.gettingfoodstamps.org/whouses.htm

We have enough problems taking care of the American losers -- perhaps, if you have nothing positive to add to the melting pot, that you can just turn to your own governement for assistance.