Join our LIFT the BAR Letter!

Dear Allies,

We have three things to share with you this week: 

1. We have extended our LIFT the BAR sign-on letter deadline until May 27th! Please consider joining the hundreds of organizations already united in urging Congress to remove the five-year bar and grant access to critical health and social services to lawfully present immigrants.

2. As the new PIF leadership, we want to meet you! Keep reading for more information on our meet and greet series and to reserve a time to meet us (Cheasty and Adriana). 

3. We are featuring new research and analysis from Brandeis University on the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

For 25 years, an arcane policy known as the “five-year bar” has denied lawfully present immigrant families of color access to critical health and social services. Senator Hirono has extended the deadline for original cosponsors for the Senate version of the LIFT the BAR Act to next Tuesday, May 24, and introduction of the legislation will follow very shortly after.

The impending Senate introduction of the LIFT the BAR Act gives us another opportunity to signal the strength of our network and the unity of our movement.  To do this, we are (re)circulating a sign on letter to Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Schumer in support of the LIFT the BAR sign-on in advance of the expected introduction. Any national, state or local organizations who have not already signed on should take this opportunity to join our letter by COB Friday, May 27th! 

Note: This letter was originally sent to House and Senate leadership in September 2021. The body of the letter has not changed; only the date will change. If you previously signed on and want to remove your organization from the letter at this point, please email Lena O’Rourke at [email protected].

As new PIF leaders, we (Adriana and Cheasty) are excited to get to know our member organizations! We are scheduling now for one-on-one meetings over the next several months. We'd love to hear more about the work your organization is doing, learn how PIF can support your efforts, and answer any questions you might have. Please contact Jessica Del Villar ([email protected]) if you have any questions. You can schedule a 25 min call here.

A new report from diversitydatakids.org at Brandeis University, A Policy Equity Analysis of the Earned Income Tax Credit, offers a comprehensive look at how to improve the EITC and significantly lower child poverty equitably by ensuring that children in immigrant families can fully access this program. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is one of our nation’s largest and most effective anti-poverty programs. However, the EITC is denied to many children in immigrant families because all members of a family must have a Social Security number (SSN) in order for the family to qualify. 

Children in immigrant families (families with at least one foreign-born parent) are more likely to grow up in poverty: they make-up 27% of children in the United States, but 44% of U.S. children in poverty. The report finds that increasing EITC benefits by 40% and eliminating the SSN requirement for parents—a change that would simply align EITC eligibility rules with those for the Child Tax Credit—would lower overall child poverty rates by 22% and poverty rates for citizen children in mixed-status families by 33%, lifting 2.02 million children out of poverty.

In Solidarity,

Adriana Cadena & Cheasty Anderson, on behalf of the PIF Team

Visit us at https://protectingimmigrantfamilies.org/