We are down to the final days of the public comment period for the Department of Homeland Security’s public charge ANPRM, and we need you!
** ANPRM Public Comment Period Ending:
Join PIF's Sign-on Comment Now!
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Dear Allies,
We are only a few days away before the public comment period ends for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) on public charge. If you haven’t already, please sign on ([link removed]) to make sure your organization is represented before EOD THIS THURSDAY, and make sure DHS hears us!
Keep reading for more on our sign-on comment, plus a health center-specific sign-on comment opportunity from our partners at the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), California Primary Care Association (CPCA), and Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO). We are also resharing two resources from our State Policy Subcommittee designed for public officials to support immigrant access to health, nutrition, and housing programs and reduce the chilling effect of the public charge rule.
** Last Days to Join PIF’s ANPRM Sign-on Comment
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We are down to the final days of the public comment period for the Department of Homeland Security’s public charge ANPRM, and we need you! There is still time to join the over 400 organizations who have already signed on ([link removed]) , so sign onto thecomment ([link removed]) by our NEW deadline of EOD this Thursday, October 21st, and make sure your voice is heard throughout the rulemaking process. We encourage organizations from Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming to join us and sign on!
To those of you who have already signed your organization, we want to say thank you. It is our collective voice and power that drives this coalition forward, and we are so grateful for your contributions! If you are already signed on, we also ask that you share this sign-on comment with your organizational networks -- particularly if you have contacts with groups in the states listed above. To help you with any additional outreach, here is a sample message ([link removed]) that you can adapt and share with your organizational networks that explains the comment strategy and asks them to take action.
SIGN ON HERE ([link removed])
** Health Center ANPRM Sign on Comment
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Please join the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), California Primary Care Association (CPCA), and Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO) in signing onto their Health Center comment letter in response to the Biden Administration's advance notice of proposed rulemaking on the public charge ground for inadmissibility. The letter urges the Biden Administration to conduct education and outreach efforts to address the chilling effect, to not consider Medicaid in a public charge determination, and to include guardrails to prevent a public charge determination from being used as a tool to discriminate. Additionally, the letter discusses the negative impact that the vacated 2019 public charge rule had on health center operations, finances, and patients. Deadline to sign on is Friday, October 22 at 3pm ET/ 12pm PT.
To review the sign on letter, please clickHERE ([link removed]) .
To sign onto the letter, please clickHERE ([link removed]) .
** Recent Resource: 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.
** Public Charge in the News
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* Mother Jones ([link removed]) – Limited access to safety net services during the pandemic contributes to higher school dropout rates among students in immigrant families.
* Seattle Times ([link removed]) – Commentary by a local health center on vaccine outreach to underserved communities, including immigrant families.
* Associated Press ([link removed]) – Review of food bank data shows hunger dropping overall, but that many continue to face barriers, including immigrant families deterred from applying for government assistance because of immigration concerns.
In Solidarity,
Eddie Carmona & Renato Rocha, on behalf of the PIF Team
Visit us at [link removed]
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