New Mexico has become the first state in the US to ban “lunch shaming” – the practice of making children whose parents cannot afford school meals mop the floors or wear wristbands.
The law was brought by a group of campaigners and politicians including Michael Padilla, a state senator who grew up in a series of foster homes and was humiliated by his inability to pay for lunch.
“I made Mrs Ortiz and Mrs Jackson, our school lunch ladies, my best friends,” he said.
