Susan Reed, Executive Director of Michigan Immigrant Rights Center
PHOTO COURTESY OF MIRC
by Cynthia Price
Legal News
If a proposed change in the “public charge” policy published in the Federal Register last week goes into effect, about 114,000 children in Michigan whose families have at least one non-citizen member receiving benefits could be affected – even though approximately 94,000 of those children are U.S. citizens.
That is because the proposed rule would expand the range of factors and the list of public assistance benefits considered when deciding whether a non-citizen person seeking a green card or to extend or change their temporary status is likely to become a public charge.
Advocates from the Protecting Immigrant Families Michigan campaign, which is co-led by the Michigan League for Public Policy, Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC), the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS), and the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation (DHDC), said last Thursday that the proposed rule change is already having a chilling effect on whether immigrant families apply for benefits to which they are entitled.
“This chilling effect is one of the biggest issues,” said Susan Reed, MIRC Executive Director. “Immigrants already receive benefits at a significantly lower rate because of these [public charge] concerns, and this adds a new and confusing dimension to it that could be really harmful.”
The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published Oct. 10 means that interested parties have until Dec. 10 to comment. Two ways to submit comments include visiting https://
protectingimmigrantfamilies.org and following the prompts to submit it to regulations.gov, or going directly to https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=DHS_FRDOC_0001-1706 (which brings you to a page specifically concerning this rule).
Currently, the only benefits considered in determination of whether a person is likely to become a public charge are cash assistance (which includes Supplemental Security In-
come, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and comparable state or local programs), or government-funded long-term care.
The proposed rule would add such benefits as Medicaid (with certain exceptions), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“food stamps”), Medicare Part D, federal public housing and Section 8 housing and rental supports.
Participants from the Protecting Immigrant Families Michigan, which is part of a national initiative, said on a teleconference call last Friday that this “upends” recent history, since the government clarified decades ago that immigrants are indeed eligible for such basic need supports without harm to their immigration cases.
Seydi Sarr, Executive Director, African Bureau of Immigration and Social Affairs, said on the call, “Taking these benefits away from families who are already struggling to get by is wrong. If you’re undocumented you can’t get benefits either way, so it’s mainly the children who will suffer. I’m just angry about it.”
The proposed rule sets up a test that weighs many factors negatively, including earning less than 125% of the federal poverty level, being a child or a senior, having certain health conditions, limited English ability, less than a high school education, a poor credit history, and other factors. There are also provisions that “radically change” the process for affidavits of support, according to Reed, tightening up sponsor requirements.
Potentially immigrants may post a bond to “cure” a public charge issue, but this too is subject to potential abuse.
The rule doesn’t apply to refugees, survivors of domestic violence and other protected groups, nor to lawful permanent residents apply for U.S. citizenship.
It was previously reported in the Grand Rapids Legal News that people feared that all family members’ public assistance would be included in the determination, but that concern was prompted by leaked drafts and did not come to pass.
To read the proposed rules, visit www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/10/10/2018-21106/inadmissibility-on-public-charge-grounds
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