Public Charge ANPRM Sign-on Comment 

Please join us by signing onto this comment by Wednesday, October 20th, and sharing with your networks now so that we can meet that deadline. Our goal with the organizational sign on comment is to send a strong signal to the administration that issuing a public charge NPRM and final rule is a high priority and that there is substantial consensus among organizations around the country on the direction of the policy. We hope hundreds of organizations from all 50 states and DC sign onto the letter before the deadline. We will only be able to accomplish this with our diverse coalition of partners and hard working advocates from all over the country who are engaging in unique ways with their communities.

The sign-on comment (full text here) urges DHS to:

• Prevent abuses like those we saw under Trump, by clearly defining the term “public charge” as a person who is “likely to become primarily and permanently reliant on the federal government to avoid destitution.”

• Secure access to programs that help immigrants and their families thrive by affirmatively:

  • Considering only federally funded Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) in a public charge determination.

  • Clarifying that qualifying immigrants and their families can safely use a range of federal programs, including all types of Medicaid, SNAP, and Section 8, as well as state- and locally-funded programs for which they are eligible.

  • Excluding family members’ and sponsors’ use of any program.

• Exempting the use of any program by a child, by a survivor of domestic violence or other serious crime, or by anyone during national emergencies.

• Direct immigration officers that an affidavit of support creates a presumption that the applicant overcomes the public charge ground of inadmissibility.

• If immigration officers identify a circumstance that might meet the definition of a public charge, look to the totality of circumstances to see if there is evidence to overcome the circumstance. 

Thank you to PIF’s Policy/Legal Working Group and Steering Committee members, including NILC, CLASP, CBPP, NHeLP, MLRI, CLINIC, API-GBV, Georgetown CCF, Legal Aid of NY, Shriver Center, Legal Council for Health Justice, Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County, NoHLA, and other organizations, for contributing to the comment and a special thank you to Sonya Schwartz, along with Gabrielle Lessard and Elizabeth Lower-Basch for spearheading the drafting and review process.