Congressional Hispanic Caucus Opposes Public Charge Rule

Statement

Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman-Elect of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), Rep. Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), and 25 CHC members submitted a comment opposing the proposed rulemaking changes to the "public charge" rule. In a letter to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Office of Policy and Strategy Chief Samantha Deshommes, the Members highlighted that redefining public charge would harm immigrant families, pit survival of families against the hope for American citizenship, and endanger the ability of legal residents to continue on a path to citizenship if they seek any food or healthcare assistance for their children.

"This proposed rule would affect a wide swath of immigrants and their families, including U.S. citizen children with immigrant parents. Should this rule be finalized, we expect to see immigrant parents forgoing critical food and health services for themselves and their children in order to avoid a public charge determination," the Members wrote.

The Members continued: "[T]his rule abandons the original and enduring intent of Congress for public charge to be a person who relies on the government as their main source of support, altering it to include anyone who supplements a low income by utilizing basic needs programs for health care, nutrition or housing... For these reasons, the Department of Homeland Security should immediately withdraw this proposal, which would dramatically reinterpret the "public charge' ground of inadmissibility and harm immigrant children and families."

Source