Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security issued a final rule that will make it harder for lowincome immigrants to legally come to the United States, and more difficult to stay here once they’ve come.
Very soon, immigrants who use certain safety programs to get through hard times will have that counted against them when they apply for a visa or for a green card.
These changes will force immigrant families to make terrible choices, and many are already refusing help they desperately need to put food on the table and take care of their health so they can stay in America.
Anyone seeking to come to the United States, or anyone already here legally seeking to stay here permanently with a green card, must demonstrate that they, or someone sponsoring them, can provide for their family so they won’t become dependent on the government.
The new rule will expand the programs that can be counted as negative factors.
In addition to cash assistance, participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), use of public housing or a Section 8 housing voucher, and adults getting health insurance through Medicaid will all count as negative factors when applying for a visa or green card.
Unless a federal court intervenes (several states and organizations have brought lawsuits), immigration officials can begin using the new, expanded negative factors to screen individuals beginning on October 15 of this year.
Immigrants who are participating in SNAP, housing programs, or Medicaid (adults only) after October 15 may have that participation considered as a negative factor in their application for a new visa or a green card.
However, these new factors won’t apply to all immigrants. Current green card holders seeking citizenship and refugees, asylum seekers, victims of trafficking and domestic abuse, and citizen children will not be subject to these new standards.
This new rule, and the confusion about which programs count and which do not, has made many families afraid that any help in these areas may be counted against them.
We are already seeing families refusing help they need because of this fear: SNAP participation among immigrant families dropped last year, after 10 straight years of increasing participation for this group, amidst uncertainty about what would be included in the final rule.
This does not mean that fewer families need help putting food on the table and are eligible for SNAP. Rather, it means that more families are going hungry.
This chilling effect that we are already seeing may become quite large. There are currently over 100,000 noncitizens in Oklahoma living on a low or modest income (below 250 percent of the federal poverty level, or $53,325 a year for a family of three). Any of these individuals could be subject to the terms of this rule change if they seek to change their immigration status in the future.
The new rules regarding who can come to America, and who can stay in America, will contribute to the fundamental alteration who we are as a nation. This change, and other actions taken by the current Administration, will make it harder for the tired, the poor, and the huddled masses yearning to breathe free to find a place in this country, and we will all be worse off for the loss of the contributions they could make to our country.
Courtney Cullison is a policy analyst focusing on issues of economic opportunity and financial security.