Chain Migration: Political Representation and Human Reality
In recent years, chain migration has become a contentious concept in debates over immigration to the U.S. Those who support a particular vision for changes to pathways to legal immigration present chain-migration as a form of immigration to the United States that is constantly proliferating, uncontrolled by current laws and, by its size and nature, a threat to the nation's security, economic stability, and character.
This framing accompanies the White House's proposals for immigration reform, which aim to limit family-based immigrant visas to the spouses and minor children of citizens and permanent residents, to divert the majority of visas granted annually into a consolidated skills-based "Build America Visa," and to work towards "ending extended-family chain migration."
Such an understanding of chain migration has been applauded by those who share the Administration's desire to reduce the level and change the origins of legal immigration. In response, some voices on the left have called for the term to be purged from general usage, mistakenly identified it as the creation of racially-motivated anti-immigrant hardliners intent upon rolling back the family-sponsored immigration that has been a key reason for the nation's growing racial diversity since the latter decades of the 20th century. A third voice in this argument, that of social scientists and scholars of migration, points out that since at least the 1960s, "chain migration" has provided a valuable method for understanding and explaining the process by which individuals and families have relocated throughout human history.
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CCC Critical of Proposed Eligibility Changes to SNAP
The California Catholic Conference (CCC) is sending a letter to the USDA critical of the proposed eligibility changes in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or CalFresh in California.
The Trump Administration's proposed revisions to the program would terminate SNAP eligibility for more than three million people and an estimated 120,000 California households.
The Conference's letter pointed out that the proposed rule would negatively affect access to necessary food and nutrition assistance while doing little to support access to programs that support self-sufficiency. In California, one in five children lives in poverty. The proposed rule change would take away a state option that gives states the flexibility to ensure their most vulnerable children and families have access to food.
Research shows that childhood exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) like living in poverty is associated with adverse experiences well into adulthood. This includes worse health outcomes, low academic achievement, and financial stress. The research highlighting young women and girls, particularly girls and young women of color, are more likely to shoulder the burdens.
The goal of the SNAP program is to decrease food insecurity and hunger by increasing access to food, a healthful diet, and nutrition education for low-wage households. SNAP provides nutrition benefits to supplement the food budget of needy families so they can purchase healthy food and move towards self-sufficiency.
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