Take action on changes to the Public Charge rule

Updated 11/13/18 - Remember to take action before December 10! New resources below!


On October 10, the Department of Homeland Security issued a new change to the public charge rule, which looks at how using public benefits affects a person's application to become a legal permanent resident (LPR) of the US. Essentially, this change means that using public benefits programs could make someone ineligible for legal residency in the country.

Under the proposed rule, use of programs such as Medicaid along with other health, nutrition, and housing benefits would now play a factor in residency decisions. Also, DHS could consider someone having lower income (under 125% of the Federal Poverty Level, or $25,975 for a family of three) as a negative factor.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly 94% of all noncitizens who came to the US without LPR status have at least one "negative factor" under the new guidelines. Between 2.1 million and 4.9 million adults and children would probably unenroll from programs like Medicaid and CHIP if this change takes effect.

Take Action:

• A number of organizations have set up tools to make it easy to submit comments on this law to the federal government. All comments must be submitted by December 10.
• Protecting Immigrant Families
• Food Research and Action Center
• Join FRAC's National Comment Day on November 19!
• SEIU
• National Women's Law Center
• Get more information from Protecting Immigrant Families, a joint collaboration between CLASP and the National Immigration Law Center
• Join a webinar on November 16 how to engage the community around public charge!
• Join a webinar on October 23 to learn more about how to take action and submit public comment