Friend -- Last week, my team was in federal court in Spokane challenging the president’s anti-immigrant “public charge” rule.
This latest unlawful policy targets immigrants and their families, even those with green cards and visas. Trump wants to deport immigrants who have used public benefits or may use them in the future, breaking up families and punishing people who have done nothing wrong. If we don’t stop it, this rule will result in children across the country going hungry and losing healthcare coverage. Here in Washington, about 140,000 lawfully present Washingtonians will lose their health insurance if this rule goes into effect. Families in need will lose up to $55 million annually in food and cash assistance.
Stephen Miller and the Trump administration’s racially motivated policies aren’t only antithetical to our values -- they hurt our state. This policy deals with immigrants lawfully in our country, and immigrants help our economy -- these families deserve the same access to a little help in times of exceptional need. In fact, immigrants are less likely than native-born Americans to use public benefits.
Being poor is not a crime in America, but that’s the message Trump is sending. I am leading led a coalition of 13 other AGs in challenging this policy. At our hearing, we asked the federal court to block this cruel and unlawful rule by protecting food assistance, housing assistance, and health insurance for immigrants and their families. We have yet to lose a lawsuit against the Trump administration. We will keep fighting to keep families together and guarantee them the basic assistance they need.
More developments to come.
-Bob
