LCWR Objects to Trump Administration’s Public Charge Rule

LCWR has issued a strongly worded statement opposing the latest attempt by President Trump to restrict immigration and punish immigrant families.  On September 22 the Trump administration issued a proposed change to Public Charge Rule that would punish immigrants going through official immigration processes and their families for applying for or receiving benefits for themselves or their children.  This would mean the use of Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicare Part D, the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program or Public Housing, could render a family member ineligible for a green card or unable to keep their family together.  The Department of Homeland Security’s statement announcing the planned change indicates the rule will be published in the Federal Register in the coming weeks.

What you can do:

• Learn more about public charge and the proposed rule changes. 
  • Visit CLINIC (Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.) to read about the proposed changes to the public charge rule. 
  • Download a fact sheet from Protecting Immigrant Families, Advancing Our Future. 
  • Speak out against the rule with statements, press, and social media (#ProtectFamilies #MyImmigrantStory #OurAmericanStory). 
• Plan to submit comments on the proposed rule change. Once the rule has been published and the public comment period opens, look to CLINIC for additional analysis and materials to help you draft comments. 

Full LCWR Statement: 

The US Department of Homeland Security’s proposed changes to the public charge regulation are yet another attempt by President Trump to restrict immigration and punish immigrant families. The new regulation would force parents to make impossible choices between the well-being of their families and the prospect of future citizenship.

The rule changes would dramatically increase the barriers to lawful status for low-income immigrants and their families. It could dissuade parents from obtaining benefits for which their children qualify, out of fear that they may not be able to regularize their immigration status in the future. Lack of access to public benefits programs will increase poverty, hunger, homelessness, and disease, and decrease children’s school attendance and general well-being.

This attempt to target the most vulnerable within the immigrant community violates the tenets of our faith and threatens the values of our nation. We are called by our faith to welcome the stranger and care for the most vulnerable and we are challenged by our national values to promote the welfare of our children and tend the common good. If we want our communities to thrive, all families in those communities mast have access to the care and services they need and to which they are entitled. The Trump administration’s proposed changes to the public charge regulation threaten us all.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious urges all people of faith to call for protection of immigrants, especially those who are most vulnerable, and to register their objections to this unreasonable and mean-spirited proposal during the 60-day comment period.