Another Attack on Family-Based Immigration

Dear Allies,

As we all read the news about the President’s hospitalization over the course of the weekend, it’s clear that we are at a disturbing and historic point in the pandemic. While the President is receiving top-notch taxpayer-funded care and treatment for COVID-19, we are thinking of the hundreds of thousands of people across the country who have been denied access to health care and life-saving public benefits, and those who are too afraid to seek care for fear of jeopardizing their immigration status. With them in mind, we will continue to fight for our shared vision of a nation where all are truly equal and no one is denied the essentials of life because of where they were born.

This week, we are sharing an update on a proposed rule published by the Department of Homeland Security last week.

Last week, DHS published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Affidavit of Support on Behalf of Immigrants with a 30 day comment period. This rule is yet another attack on the family-based immigration system, with particular consequences for immigrants with low incomes. 

What is an affidavit of support? An Affidavit of Support, also called the Form I-864, is a document an individual (also known as a “sponsor”) signs to accept financial responsibility for the applicant who is coming to live in the United States. Check out this PIF fact sheet for more information about access to public benefits for immigrants with sponsors. 

What would the proposed rule do? The proposed rule would make it harder to become a sponsor, and therefore harder for immigrants to get green cards, and ultimately citizenship. It would also: 

• Require sponsors to disclose 3 years of their tax returns, and in some cases, three years of household members’ tax returns as well.

• Make the sponsor income requirement harder to meet by requiring that all sponsored immigrants be included in the sponsor’s household.

• Require sponsors to secure a co-sponsor if they used a federal means-tested public benefit within the last three years, or if they failed to meet a prior sponsor obligation, regardless of their wealth today.

• Limit the members of the sponsor’s household who could sign onto the Affidavit of Support with them.

Comments are due on November 2. In the coming weeks, we hope to share resources to support your comment efforts.  

• Courthouse News Service – Nonprofit litigants (including PIF partners) can seek information beyond DHS records concerning the regulation itself, in building their case alleging racial bias in the issuance of the Trump administration’s public charge regulation

• American Bazaar – On Trump administration’s new Affidavit of Support proposed regulation

In Solidarity,

Eddie Carmona & Renato Rocha, on behalf of the PIF Team

Visit us at https://protectingimmigrantfamilies.org/