{"id":104710,"date":"2020-03-01T18:35:13","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T02:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/?p=104710"},"modified":"2020-03-01T18:35:13","modified_gmt":"2020-03-02T02:35:13","slug":"fight-over-public-charge-rule-change-isnt-over-advocates-seek-to-calm-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/fight-over-public-charge-rule-change-isnt-over-advocates-seek-to-calm-fears\/","title":{"rendered":"Fight Over Public Charge Rule Change Isn\u2019t Over \u2013 Advocates Seek to Calm Fears"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

By Mark Hedin. Ethnic Media Services<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The fight over the Trump administration\u2019s effort to change the \u201cpublic charge\u201d rule continues, advocates gathered on a teleconference call for ethnic media on Jan. 31 agreed, despite a Supreme Court ruling earlier in the week that lifted an injunction blocking its implementation.<\/p>\n

The changes instruct the Department of Homeland Security to begin applying tougher standards in considering applications for green cards or for visas to enter the United States. Those standards are now set to take effect on Feb. 24, the Citizenship and Immigration Services agency announced on Jan. 30.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court decision did not rule on the merits of the case. Rather, it found that a lower court had overstepped its authority in October by issuing a nationwide injunction against the proposed changes scheduled to take effect that month.<\/p>\n

At the press briefing, Congresswoman Judy Chu of California\u2019s 27th District, along with Mayra Alvarez of the Children\u2019s Partnership and lawyers Alvaro Huerta of the National Immigration Law Center and Madison Allen of CLASP, the Center for Law and Social Policy, discussed the implications of the court\u2019s decision, gave suggestions on what steps people should or shouldn\u2019t take if they\u2019re concerned about how the new rules might affect them, and described what responses their advocates are planning, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal today it to help calm fears,\u201d Chu said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lawsuits to stop this are not over,\u201d Huerta said, citing ongoing cases in California, New York, Illinois (the one state where an injunction blocking implementation of the rule remains in place), Maryland and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese cases aren\u2019t going away,\u201d he said, echoing Chu\u2019s vow that, \u201cI am committed to fighting back.\u201d Chu has introduced legislation in Congress, with 118 co-sponsors, to deny funding for implementation of the rule.<\/p>\n

On Jan. 30th, USCIS announced that the agency will only apply the Final Rule to applications and petitions submitted on or after Feb. 24, 2020 (except for in Illinois). DHS will NOT rely solely on an immigrant\u2019s receipt of the newly listed benefits before that date in the public charge determination.<\/p>\n

In terms of practical advice for those planning to apply for a green card, a visa to enter the United States or to change their status, the panelists agreed that doing so promptly, ahead of that Feb. 24 date, is advisable. They also warned that people in the country who already have green cards and are thus exempt from public charge assessments should be careful about leaving the country for more than 180 days, as their return would become subject to public charge testing.<\/p>\n

Allen, after \u201cstrongly encouraging families to learn more,\u201d highlighted four things to remember about public charge rules:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201cUse of benefits will not automatically make you a public charge,\u201d she said.<\/li>\n
  2. There are positive as well as negative factors that will go into the consideration of green card applications under the terms of the public charge test. For instance, having resources or a job can help. Other considerations include an applicant\u2019s age (between 18 and 61 is best), health, income, assets, resources, education and family.<\/li>\n
  3. Use of many benefit programs would not count against an applicant. These include but are not limited to WIC, CHIP, school lunches, health care for pregnant women, and emergency shelters.<\/li>\n
  4. A family member\u2019s use of public benefits will not count in how an applicant is judged.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u201cInformation is power,\u201d Allen said. \u201cWe encourage you to get the facts and make a plan.\u201d For legal advice, which the panelists all strongly recommended people seek, she suggested the Immigration Advocates Network\u2019s list of free legal services: https:\/\/www.immigrationadvocates.org\/legaldirectory\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    A key criticism of the proposed rule changes is that families will forego public benefits they need and to which they\u2019re entitled, thus endangering themselves and their children, out of caution and exaggerated worry.<\/p>\n

    \u201cThe scope is much narrower than feared,\u201d Huerta said.<\/p>\n

    But in all cases, the panelists said, it\u2019s prudent to get legal advice. \u201cGet an assessment by an attorney,\u201d Huerta said. \u201cWe have to arm ourselves with facts.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Allen directed listeners to an online FAQ that addresses public charge rules concerns. It\u2019s published by the Protecting Immigrant Families campaign, of which she is a part: https:\/\/protectingimmigrantfamilies.org\/know-your-rights\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    She also urged people to contact local, state and federal officials to make their positions clear on the proposed rules changes.
    \nAlvarez, criticizing the White House administration\u2019s \u201crelentless attack on immigrant communities\u201d and its \u201cinhumane approaches to immigration\u201d said the proposed public charge rule change and the fears it has stirred up \u201churt children\u2019s ability to develop and thrive,\u201d and threaten the country\u2019s long-term economic viability.<\/p>\n

    Chu, too, had spoken out about the disinformation that fuels the \u201csteady stream of anti-immigrant policies emanating from the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n

    These policies \u201cdisproportionately affect people of color,\u201d she said, and make family reunifications more difficult. So as a society, we lose the common circumstance where immigrants bypass benefits because they are welcomed and helped by family that can provide child care, loans and more.<\/p>\n

    \u201cThe strength of our country is reflected in its diversity,\u201d Alvarez said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Mark Hedin. Ethnic Media Services The fight over the Trump administration\u2019s effort to change the \u201cpublic charge\u201d rule continues, advocates gathered on a teleconference call for ethnic media on Jan. 31 agreed, despite a Supreme Court ruling earlier in the week that lifted an injunction blocking its implementation. The changes instruct the Department of…<\/p>\n

    Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":98273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[275,5,1292,11,276,72,1848,19,4786,20],"tags":[1263,5213,4686,5209,5210,41948,24752,7853,35674,147,3442],"class_list":["post-104710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-current-affairs","category-legalissues","category-lifestyle","category-opinion","category-politics-current-affairs","category-society","category-topics","category-u-s-news","category-youth","tag-trump","tag-benefits","tag-dhs","tag-ems","tag-ethnic-media-services","tag-homeland-security","tag-immigrant","tag-mark-hedin","tag-public-charge","tag-siliconeer","tag-usa"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}