Dear John, 

March is Women’s History Month, and we wanted to take a moment to thank some of the women who champion immigrant families’ access to the health and social safety net on Capitol Hill. Senator Mazie Hirono, Representative Judy Chu, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal have all taken leadership roles on legislation aimed at protecting and improving safety net access for immigrant families and fought to build support for our priorities. In addition to the many women who give their time and talent to our cause at PIF partner organizations, we thank these lawmakers for their leadership and determination.

In this week’s newsletter:

• PIF team welcomes Esther Reyes

• Public charge a concern for 90% of people who are likely undocumented immigrants

• Newsletter returning week of March 18

PIF is excited to announce that veteran advocate and organizer Esther Reyes joined the PIF team this month as a Campaign Strategist. Esther knows PIF well, having served as the Children’s Defense Fund-Texas representative on our Steering Committee for the past two years, and she will be focusing her work on coalition building and partner engagement. Prior to her work at CDF, Esther served as Director of Community Relations for Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas. Anybody who wants to say hello can email her at [email protected]. Welcome Esther!

With Donald Trump the sole remaining active candidate for the Republican nomination for president of the United States, the election is likely on the minds of many in immigrant families. Based on an analysis of data from its collaboration with the Los Angeles Times, PIF partner KFF reports that many in immigrant families are already denied access to safety net programs by the persistent “chilling effect” of the Trump public charge regulation. The new KFF analysis finds that “Among immigrants who are likely undocumented, nine in ten are either unsure (68%) or incorrectly believe use of these types of public programs will decrease their chances for green card approval (22).”

Read on KFF

Next week is spring break for many communities across the country. While we on the PIF team will be available in emergencies, we are pausing routine activities like the newsletter. Please look for our next edition the week of March 18. 

Visit our website at www.pifcoalition.org

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