If you haven’t already, please sign your organization onto our sign-on comment in response to the DHS ANPRM on public charge.
** Join PIF's Sign-on Comment!
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Dear Allies,
As we get closer to DHS’s deadline for public comments, our focus remains steadily on the larger public charge rulemaking process. We deeply appreciate those of you who have already joined us in making our voices heard to DHS. If you haven’t already, please sign your organization onto our sign-on comment in response to the DHS ANPRM on public charge. We encourage organizations from Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming to sign on!
We also have new resources to share from our State Policy Subcommittee, as well as a reminder to complete the 2021 DACA Survey from our partners at NILC.
** Make Your Voice Heard! Join PIF’s ANPRM Sign-on Comment
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Please join us by signing onto this comment ([link removed]) 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. Full text of the comment is available here ([link removed]) .
** NEW RESOURCES: State & Local Officials Toolkit & 3 Actions for Elected Officials
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PIF's State Policy Subcommittee has developed a comprehensive new resource for public officials to support immigrant access to health, nutrition, and housing programs and reduce the chilling effect of the public charge rule. The Toolkit for State and Local Government Officials ([link removed]) presents 6 core recommendations and provides examples from across the country of positive practices to support access to public benefits, as well as templates of training for front-line enrollment staff and sample documents for adaptation. Advocates can use this tool to urge their state and local government partners to adopt best practices and advance immigrant access to benefits. Accompanying this toolkit is a resource specifically for elected officials ([link removed]) , with easy to accomplish actions elected officials can take to mitigate
the chilling effect of the 2019 public charge rule, with sample communications tools for elected officials to better inform their immigrant constituents about public charge and public benefits. A special thank you to Alicia Wilson at PIF and Andrea Kovach of the Shriver Center on Poverty Law for spearheading this toolkit, as well as to Tanya Broder at NILC, Elizabeth Lower-Basch at CLASP, and additional State Policy Subcommittee members for contributing to the toolkit.
** 2021 DACA Survey
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The National Immigration Law Center is inviting people to participate in the 2021 DACA survey and share it with friends and family members. The data from the survey will help NILC in their continued litigation and advocacy to protect and defend DACA and win a pathway to citizenship for all. Any information shared through the survey will be entirely confidential. The resulting aggregate survey data will be accessible only by the survey research team of Professor Tom Wong, NILC, United We Dream, and the Center for American Progress. Published findings will not contain any personally identifiable information.
Take the Survey Here ([link removed])
** New CMS Fact Sheet for Outreach to Immigrant Families
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A new fact sheet titled, “Important Information for Immigrant Families to Know About Medicaid and CHIP ([link removed]) ” was recently issued by CMS to support community-based organizations’ outreach efforts to immigrant families. The fact sheet includes information about privacy protections and states that generally applying for or receiving Medicaid or CHIP benefits doesn’t count in a public charge determination, among other information. A Spanish-language version ([link removed]) of the fact sheet is also available.
** Webinar Recording: State Strategies to Support Afghan Evacuees in Accessing Health Coverage
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State Health and Value Strategies hosted a webinar that provided an overview of eligibility standards for evacuees and strategies that states can deploy to expeditiously enroll people into health coverage in order to access care. Evacuees are in need of access to medical care, as measles and other infections spread and newcomers grapple with the trauma associated with fleeing their home country. States are evaluating the tools available to them to ensure their new residents have access to health coverage as they settle in the U.S. During the webinar, experts from Manatt Health reviewed new CMS guidance ([link removed]) released on September 27, 2021 to help states understand what health coverage options are available to Afghan evacuees. Watch the webinar here ([link removed]) .
** Public Charge in the News
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* LA Times ([link removed]) – A look at Child Tax Credit outreach efforts and the many obstacles they face among immigrant families, including the public charge chilling effect.
* WJLA-TV ([link removed]) – Hunger remains a persistent problem among DC-area immigrant families, despite expanded access to pandemic relief.
* Inside Philanthropy ([link removed]) – On the Ford Foundation’s initiative to make the social safety net stronger and more accessible to immigrant families and others historically denied access.
In Solidarity,
Eddie Carmona & Renato Rocha, on behalf of the PIF Team
Visit us at [link removed]
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