Is the Proposed Public Charge Rule Fair?
If we look at immigrant families as a public charge and take away the minimum benefits that they are entitled to, we might be harming our own country’s economy and social balance. I came to the U.S. on March 03, 2006 with an immigrant visa and around two weeks after I was living here, I received my green-card. Next, we went and applied for social security number and meantime I also enrolled at school. I never knew there was a so-called public charge rule. I already entered the country with a legal status. All I knew was that my dad was a permanent resident married to an American woman for 16 years, my stepmother then. He had a good job and paid for all his expenses. He never told me we benefited from government because he never had. Soon I learned that there were people who were living totally dependent of the government, others partially and few needed assistances for food or housing only. I don’t mean to judge but I could see their lives weren’t easy. They needed these benefits in order to keep going. Although government says immigrant families are a public charge, family’s financial status should not be factor for immigrant status because in reality the immigrant’s families are contributing much more to the economy than taking from it.
In order to make the subject easier to digest here is a little bit of the background on what Public Charge means. Even though it is not so talked about Public charge is not something totally new it has been around for 100 years. And it is taken very seriously when admitting someone to U.S. “An individual who is likely at any time to become a public charge is inadmissible to the United States and ineligible to become a legal permanent resident. However, receiving public benefits does not automatically make an individual a public charge” (USCIS).
The Homeland Security Department is analyzing how likely immigrants who will be granted permanent residency are to be a public charge. They have a list of 5 negative points which are: Income below 125% of the federal poverty, no high school diploma, not being able speak English well or at all, not being employed or enrolled at school and being under the age of or over 61 and having an income below 125% of the federal poverty. They are checking to see what percentage of immigrants fit into each category (Capps, Greenberg, Fix, and Zong).
For most part this proposed rule really serves as a judgement to immigrants. The new proposed rule is not even in effect yet, but it is setting a much higher standards than the one created 100 years back. This rule makes the immigrants feel less human by forcing them to give up on benefits that could improve their family’s well-being. The DHS has only proposed the new rule and yet it is pushing people to make decisions that will have a bad impact on their families psychological and physical health.
With the new rule proposed by the DHS there are all kinds of expectations to the immigrant families. Unfortunately, they are all negative. In addition, the president is trying to expand the rule, by saying that immigrants on government subsidized health insurance is also a public charge. Many immigrant families have American born children who have applied for them to become a permanent resident. If they are on MassHealth for example, they are in fear and because of that they’re cancelling health insurance, so they won’t be considered a burden now or in the near future. The whole situation hurts because patients in need of care won’t be getting necessary health care.
The most recent recipients of permanent residency or green-card had a least one negative point. However, it is unfair to say immigrants can’t be granted a green-card because their American born children are benefitting of a public service. Well it is not the case, but families are in so much fear that they are already taking their children off the WIC program for example. This program has helped infants and moms so long and it is now experiencing a drop rate of 2,000 people comparing to 2017 (Boston Globe).
It is said by ordinary people on the streets that if a person is not working and is living on the government benefits then this person should not be in the U.S. if this person is an immigrant. This point of view makes sense if you are not looking at whole picture. It is a process of give and take. Immigrants come to the U.S. willing to work hard and give all their best. A good example of how this new proposed rule will harm the economy is the letter that mayor Martin J. Walsh of Boston wrote to DHS. He expresses his deep concern about an analysis made in the city of Boston that shows the economy would be impacted by a labor and economic activity loss of $500 million yearly, not to mention the public health challenge that many households in the area will face. (Martin Walsh) Now it comes to getting the minimum help possible which most of the time is only health care. These immigrants can’t apply for benefits because they are in fear. “A 500,000 people in Massachusetts, including 160,000 children, the majority of whom are themselves U.S. citizens and not directly affected by this proposed ruling, could forgo receiving needed benefits even if they are eligible” (Wagman). Even though there are many immigrants benefiting from government, they are also retributing in other ways to the economy, by providing cheap labor and still paying their taxes. They keep the economical wheel rolling, by that I mean jobs are getting done, at a much lower price.
In conclusion ever since the public charge rule was created a 100 years ago by DHS it did not say immigrants could not have certain benefits like Medicaid, nutrition assistance, housing benefits and others. However, the president is pushing in for more benefits to be taken into consideration when analyzing public charge. If this proposed rule will become a law it is uncertain but if it does it certainly mean less workers, less jobs getting done on time and for sure whole lot of suffering family separation. For country that prides itself for being a country of all nations, this rule will regress what was accomplished over centuries.
USCIS Public Charge Fact Sheet, April 29, 2011
https://www.uscis.gov/news/fact-sheets/public-charge-fact-sheet
Loeb, Saul. “Trump’s ‘Public Charge’ Anti-Immigrant Proposal Is Cruel and Unusual – The Boston Globe.” BostonGlobe.com, The Boston Globe, 10 Dec. 2018,
www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2018/12/10/trump-public-charge-anti-immigrant-proposal-cruel-and-unusual/ACZirF1RUKakrjVZW5U74O/story.html.
Capps, Randy, Mark Greenberg, Michael Fix, and Jie Zong. 2018. Gauging the Impact of DHS’Proposed Public-Charge Rule on U.S. Immigration. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute.
Nancy Wagman, November 14, 2018