TAKE ACTION! Tell Policymakers to Defund the Public Charge Rule and Protect Families: Use this link from the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum to ask your member of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 3222, the No Federal Funds for Public Charge Act of 2019, and speak out against this policy.

Many immigrants and the people who serve them are confused and frightened since DHS posted its final rule broadening the “public charge” grounds for  inadmissibility on August 14 with an expected effective date of October 15, 2019. Several lawsuits have already been filed by Washington and 12 other states, San Francisco and Santa Clara Counties, California and 5 other states, New York, and the National Immigration Law Center. This legal action could delay the date the law goes into effect.

For decades, immigration officials have used the “public charge test” to decide whether to prevent some categories of immigrants from entering the U.S. or from getting lawful permanent resident (LPR) “green cards” based on predictions that they will become dependent on government assistance for their main source of support.  The officials consider what they refer to as the “totality of circumstances,” including income, employment, health, education or skills, family situation, whether a sponsor signed a form I-864 “affidavit of support” promising to support the person, and whether the person has used certain benefit programs including long term care and cash assistance (like Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), and state-funded Aged, Blind, and Disabled (ABD) benefits.  

If the final rule goes into effect, immigration officials evaluating whether a person is a “public charge” will consider the person’s use of additional public programs, including:

• Health care that is federally-funded including Medicaid, but not these exceptions: 
  • Emergency Medicaid services (known as AEM or AMP in Washington)
  • All federally-funded health care for children under 21 years
  • All federally-funded health care for pregnant persons including 60 days postpartum
  • The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
  • Subsidies for health insurance through marketplaces such as the Washington Health Benefit Exchange 
  • Health care that is funded entirely by the State or a local government
• Food assistance that is federally-funded including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, “EBT” or “Food Stamps”), but not these exceptions:
  • School lunches
  • Food banks
  • WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children)
• Food assistance that is funded entirely by the State or a local government; 
• Federal Public Housing and Section 8 assistance, but not shelters or other housing services funded entirely by the State or a local government.

Immigration officials will not consider use of services not listed in the final rule..

The final rule’s changes would not expand the categories of immigrants that are subject to the public charge test. The rule also will not apply to immigrants who submit their applications for visas or to become LPRs prior to October 15th. See   here for more information. But the rule creates a lot of confusion and is discouraging even immigrants who it would not affect. Some are fearful about accessing benefits they are eligible for.

Every case is different. Before deciding to stop or not access benefits you are eligible for, we strongly advise you to get individual counseling from an immigration attorney. See here for a list of local legal resources.

To get involved with the Protecting Immigrant Families – Washington (PIF-WA) coalition that is monitoring this closely, you can participate in their next meeting or join their listserv:

• The next PIF-WA coalition meeting is on August 29th from 3 to 4:30pm at the Children’s Alliance office in the International District (Call-in Option: 1-866-740-1260; passcode: 98104 02). We’ll use this time to discuss the latest updates, refine our strategy, and plan next steps regarding the federal public charge rules. RSVP here!
• Join the PIF-WA listserv here.

– Huma Zarif, NoHLA Staff Attorney

TAKE ACTION! Tell Policymakers to Defund the Public Charge Rule and Protect Families: Use this link from the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum to ask your member of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 3222, the No Federal Funds for Public Charge Act of 2019, and speak out against this policy.