Key Moment to Influence Policies at Federal and State Levels

Dear Allies,

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the many ways our country has failed immigrant families, including erecting policy barriers that prevent access to nutrition and health care. Several efforts are underway at the national and state levels to provide greater and more equitable access to programs that meet basic needs. Keep reading for information about what you can do to support these inclusive proposals and policies -- including the HEAL Act and Pandemic-EBT. We’re also sharing information on upcoming webinars and several new research studies showing the disproportionate impact of the COVID crisis on immigrant families. 

COVID 4.0

• Congress continues conversations on another COVID relief package  (COVID 4.0). Speaker Pelosi is expected to release her proposed package early this week. If the House and the Senate can reach a bipartisan deal, it could be passed in late May or  June. PIF continues to advocate for this relief package to be inclusive of immigrants and to include provisions that ensure that immigrants have access to the health and economic supports they need. In addition to our Take Action Page, PIF has developed a Federal Advocacy Tool Kit to support state and local organizations’ asks to members of Congress. It includes all the resources needed to advocate on behalf of immigrants in a COVID 4.0 bill. 

Support the HEAL for Immigrant Women and Families Act

• Reintroduced in the House by Representatives Jayapal and Haaland, the Health Equity & Access under the Law (HEAL) for Immigrant Women & Families Act will be introduced in the Senate for the first time by Senator Cory Booker next week. The HEAL Act reflects the principle that access to health care should not depend on immigration status.  It removes the restrictive five-year waiting period and outdated list of “qualified” immigrants under the 1996 welfare law, so that all individuals granted federally-authorized presence are eligible for Medicaid and CHIP, including DACA recipients. The Act also allows undocumented immigrants to purchase qualified health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act’s Health Insurance Exchanges and obtain premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions. Please sign on as an endorsing organization here by Friday, May 15 at 5pm ET. Before signing on, check this list to see if your organization has already endorsed the bill. 

Pandemic EBT 
Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) has recently been approved in more than 20 states across the country. The benefit, which provides nutrition assistance to replace school meals when public schools are closed, is available to all children who received free or reduced price meals regardless of immigration status and is not considered in the public charge test. This is great news for undocumented and mixed-status families with children who’ve been excluded from other COVID relief programs, but much more needs to be done to ensure that immigrants are aware of P-EBT and not afraid to use the card. Our partners at the Food Research Action Center have developed a P-EBT communications toolkit and CLASP has posted a blog on Five Ways to Ensure P-EBT Reaches Immigrant Families. If your state or your organization is doing outreach to immigrant communities on P-EBT, we’d love to hear about it! Please share any examples you have of effective outreach materials, social media, etc with Madison ([email protected]). 
 

State Policy Webinars This Week
The federal response to COVID-19 has failed to address the immediate needs of immigrant communities, but states and localities across the country have stepped up to provide relief in the form of economic support; access to healthcare, testing, and treatment; and workplace protections. Two upcoming webinars will highlight available options:

On this webinar, we will provide an overview of policy options that states can use to include the immigrant community in their health and nutrition COVID-19 relief.  Learn about Emergency Medicaid coverage of COVID-19 testing and treatment and Pandemic-EBT food support, with a deep dive into their public charge implications. Click here to register now.

 On this webinar from the Winning in the States initiative, we will hear from representatives from Austin and Minneapolis on how their immigrant-inclusive emergency public funds are structured and what impact it’s having; and representatives from Workers Defense on how they were able to advocate for more relief for immigrant communities. We’ll also provide an overview of existing benefits and highlight successful models from other states. Click here to register now.

Below are several new research studies showing the disproportionate impact of the COVID crisis on immigrant families.

• Barriers to COVID-19 Testing and Treatment: Immigrants Without Health Coverage in the United States (Migration Policy Institute). Provides national and state-by-state data on the number of uninsured noncitizens under different unemployment scenarios along with estimates of how many low-income noncitizens could potentially be covered by Medicaid, but are not eligible due to their immigration status.
   
• Many Families Are Struggling to Put Food on the Table. We Have to Do More (Urban Institute): Provides national data on food insecurity rates and finds that Hispanic adults with children who had a non citizen family member living in the household reported the highest rates of food insecurity. 
   
• Hispanic Adults in Families with Noncitizens Disproportionately Feel the Economic Fallout From COVID-19 (Urban Institute). Provides national data on the impact of the COVID crisis and finds that over two-thirds of Hispanic adults in families with noncitizens reported that they or a family member have lost a job, work hours, or work-related income because of the coronavirus outbreak.
   
• Vulnerable to COVID-19 and in Frontline Jobs, Immigrants Are Mostly Shut Out of U.S. Relief (Migration Policy Institute). Provides national and state-level estimates of families excluded from CARES Act stimulus relief checks due to a family member filing taxes with an ITIN.

Thank you for your continued partnership!

Madison Allen (CLASP)
Connie Choi & Jenny Rejeske (NILC)

Visit us at https://protectingimmigrantfamilies.org/