Every eighth American is currently living below the poverty line, and this will worsen during the Presidency of Donald Trump, said the UN expert on poverty.

Philip Alston, the UN Special Reporter on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, traveled across the US and Puerto Rico for two weeks and was worried about what he saw.

He said that poverty in the United States is already extreme and that some factors suggest that many Americans do not expect anything good in the future.

Among these factors was the fact that in some communities in the south of the United States some Wall-Mart workers rely on government food stamps, that children who grow up in poverty do not have access to health care, quality nutrition or appropriate education, and that the poor often find themselves locked, and their criminal records also make it impossible for them to vote.

American dream turn into American illusion

Alston also warned that some of the announced reforms of the administration of Donald Trump will further worsen the situation, specially the new tax reform, which the Republicans and the White House want to adopt. 

"The US Congress is struggling to adopt a law that will lead to the most dramatic increase in inequality that we can imagine." 

He added that the proposed shrinking of social programs will destroy the "safety net for the poorest people, which is already severely punctured".

"If the shrinkage of these programs really happens, inequality in the United States will fly into the sky." American dreams are rapidly changing into an American illusion. The United States already has the lowest level of social mobility among all developed countries, "said Alston.

Official data in the US show that 40 million people, or more than 12 percent, live in poverty. Almost half of them live in deep poverty.