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The “public office” rule was intended to ensure that green cards are awarded only to self-sufficient immigrants, but in the pandemic hunger increases and leaves Joe Biden in a quandary.
By Zolan Kanno-Youngs
HOUSTON – Cars began sneaking into the parking lot shortly after 6 a. m. m. , surrounding police officers who were directing traffic to the state of masked volunteers through frozen pizza boxes, tortillas and brown bags of canned goods.
The coronavirus pandemic has taken many families to the pantry while driving, but among the many immigrant families online, there is another cause at work: President Trump’s new expanded regulation blocking access to residence cards for legal immigrants who are likely to settle for even young citizens who are obviously eligible for federal assistance , undocumented immigrant parents avoid systems such as food stamps and rush to the pantry.
This, in turn, puts pressure on relief agencies and poses a challenge for President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. , who may face growing famine through the expansion of government systems, but will not temporarily cancel Clinton’s expansion of the Trump administration. Regulations that keep immigrant families away from those systems.
“They avoid registering their children and ordering food,” said Cathy Moore, executive director of Epiphany Community Health Outreach Services, who manages the self-service pantry in Houston. “They’re afraid. “
Dani, a 34-year-old undocumented immigrant from Honduras and a mother of 3 daughters, said she was alarmed at the beginning of Trump’s tenure when the president branded immigrants as criminals and called for deportation raids. Array But she replaced her habit and applied for food stamps and Medicaid in 2018 when the administration announced its so-called public fee rule, expanding the force of officials to deny green cards to immigrants who might want public assistance.
On Wednesday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals opposed the Trump administration when it upheld the initial precautionary measures opposed to the public workplace rule, ruling that the settlement is probably not a moderate interpretation of federal immigration law. has already sown concern and confusion in immigrant communities.
The Clinton administration ordered officials to treat immigrants as a “public office” in limited circumstances, as if they were receiving monetary benefits from the government. most likely to use a wide variety of protection network programs.
Some undocumented immigrants who have lived in the country for many years worry that using public benefits for their families could jeopardize their chances of obtaining a permanent apartment if a new Congress grants them an amnesty. they would become vulnerable to deportation.
Unauthorized immigrants are no longer eligible for the maximum welfare systems, yet several researchers said the policy had caused thousands of families to drop the benefits lists to obtain benefits, even though their young US citizens can use such systems. without affecting their immigration claims: families like Dani.
“All this about the public workplace and everything, and I can’t sleep,” said Dani, who was involved in her efforts to get a green card so she can stay with her children. what happens if I get fired?”
While some of Trump’s executive movements may be temporarily revoked through Biden’s new administration, the regulation of the public service, which went through a tough regulatory procedure before being enacted, will prove difficult to overturn if it is in spite of everything confirmed via AND cutting distrust of the government it has generated will be a major challenge for Biden’s selection as head of the Department of Homeland Security , Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the first Latino and immigrant selected for this position.
The department, which deals with immigration issues such as the issuance of green cards, has jurisdiction over the public government.
“Fear is such that it will be a real challenge to soothe the fears of families. They focus on public office, but not just public office,” said Cheasty Anderson, director of immigration and defense policy at the Children’s Defense Fund-Texas. “There will be no trust in the federal government among immigrant communities that are lately frightened and intimidated as long as they don’t feel attacked by the federal government. “
TJDucklo, a Biden spokesman, reiterated that the president-elect would work to push back the public workplace rule and pledged to “engage with communities from day one to ensure they can access the care needed to stay in place. “families and healthy families.
A survey of 949 members of immigrant families conducted through the Urban Institute found that more than 20% of immigrant adults have avoided public benefits such as food stamps, housing subsidies, Medicaid, or the youth health insurance program for fear of risking long-term green cards. Researchers from Ideas42, a non-profit study organization, estimated that 260,000 young people across the country were eliminated through their parents from nutrition care and fitness systems after the rule was announced.
This estimate was discovered in a study that found that 79,000 young people withdrew from Medicaid in five states: California, New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington.
The Trump administration said the rule is mandatory to make sure immigrants coming to the United States are self-sufficient and don’t strain taxpayers’ resources. After pronouncing the policy, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, a senior national security official, revised the iconic The Statue of Liberty Sonnet, saying the United States would welcome those who “can fly on their own. “
The steering had also predicted the cooling effect. In the final rule, Kevin K. McAleenan, the acting secretary of homeland security at the time, wrote that politics can cause foreigners and U. S. citizens to form families with unauthorized immigrants “who might otherwise be eligible for public benefits. “The firm estimated that this could save the federal government about $2. 5 billion a year.
The effects were acute among immigrant families in Texas, according to a November report through the Children’s Defense Fund, which collected information from 32 social organizations in the border state. Moore’s organization reported a 37% drop in food stamp records from 2016 to 2019 among a clientele of more than 80% of immigrant families, even though the application at the organization’s food distribution site was more than 327%.
Another organization, VELA, a nonprofit organization that is helping families of young people with disabilities whose 85% is an immigrant, reported an 80% drop in food stamp records from 2017 to 2019.
One of those who introduced Guillermina, a mother of 3 children in Austin, Texas, who, like other parents interviewed for the article, refused to use her full call to worry about government retaliation. food stamps in 2018 and let your fitness insurance expire.
All the essentials have become a luxury.
“The biggest limitation for us was meat and protein. It was the most expensive,” Guillermina said. The most important thing was how to ration this article so that we could come with it in small pieces a week. “
Due to a lack of fitness insurance, you may no longer send your 4-year-old to speech treatment. Without treatment sessions, Guillermina’s 11-year-old daughter, who is autistic, began with the techniques she had learned for the family. household chores, which provoked outbursts of anger.
“The challenge with the public workplace is that it’s anything that hasn’t just affected me,” Guillermina said. “It has affected my entire circle of family members, so many families that I know repairing their roles, that worry of feeling as if I may never access my benefits without risking being deported.
In McAllen, Texas, 32-year-old Nailea Avalos, a mother of 3 who worked for years as a waitress, took a deep breath and cried at the mention of the public workplace rule. Originally from Mexico, she used public benefits to supplement her source of income as a waitress and her husband’s source of structured income until 2016, when a friend told her that Trump could soon punish those who used the aid.
He got used to rationing the food.
But in 2018, her daughter Xiomara, who was 8 at the time, showed how much she needed Medicaid. When an asthma attack prevented her from breathing for a week, Avalos said she used a nebulizer she still had from her son’s past illness. than taking your daughter to the hospital. When fighting continued in Xiomara, he took her across the border to Reynosa, Mexico, for medical treatment.
“I felt like I wasn’t a mother, that I wasn’t taking care of my son,” Avalos said.
When her husband lost his homework during the pandemic, she was referred to public benefits. She was told that employing government assistance for her young citizens would not make her eligibility for the green card, however, she said she was still anxious.
“We leave that to God, but we also hope that if we have a new administration and a new president, all of that will change,” Avalos said, adding that he hoped officials in the Biden administration “just have conscience.
Some of the parents who used the pantry in Houston said they re-enrolled in public benefit systems just because they lost their jobs in the pandemic, but parents like Dani said they felt more comfortable waiting for hours with their children in the pantry queue.
“They have the food stamps that they are entitled to because those other people want to be able to put food on the table for their young people who are American citizens,” said Ms. Moore of Epiphany Community Health Outreach Services. “Collateral damage affects young people. “
When a case manager approached the driver’s side windows to communicate with parents, the car line threatened to enlarge beyond the parking lot. The police tell more drivers to come back some other time.
“It’s no longer shocking,” Moore said, “it’s the norm. “
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