Immigrant Advocates Blast Trump's 'Dastardly' Public Benefits Policy

Source: DAILYBEAST




The new policy would count use of public assistance programs against legal immigrants looking to become citizens.

Published 08.12.19 1:59PM ET


Nearly a year after the Trump administration first proposed a rule change that would severely penalize legal immigrants for accessing public benefits like food stamps and Medicaid, the Department of Homeland Security on Monday announced that the so-called “public charge” proposal is set to go into effect in 60 days.

In a massive 837-page filing in the Federal Register that acting Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Ken Cuccinelli said “make[s] War and Peace look relatively short,” immigration authorities announced that they will consider past reliance on public benefits—from prescription drug subsidies and Medicaid to food stamps and housing vouchers—as a “heavily weighted negative factor” for legal immigrant residents pursuing a green card or U.S. citizenship.

“Americans and legal immigrants have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps to pursue their dreams and the opportunity of this great nation,” Cuccinelli told reporters during a White House press conference announcing the rule change’s implementation. The “public charge” designation, he continued, is intended “to ensure that our immigration system is bringing people to join us as citizens… who can stand on their own two feet, who will not be reliant on the welfare system.”.............

Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/immigrant-advocates-blast-trumps-dastardly-public-benefits-policy

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damn---they will looking on PAST use of benefits also. damn



..............“It’s not a surprise that this is causing further panic among immigrant communities,” Tanya Broder, a senior staff attorney with the National Immigration Law Center, told The Daily Beast at the time. “These are very uncertain times, and that fear has a real public health and economic effect on all of us. We expect that many will avoid going in to get the services that they need—and for which their children are eligible—because of this fear and uncertainty.”