Thread by @mboteach

BREAKING: Trump's radical leaked “public charge” reg that will separate families, discriminate against ppl w/disabilities & effectively deny healthcare & other basics to legal immigrants & citizen kids just moved to OMB, meaning could be dropped soon reginfo.gov/public/do/eoDe… 1/

What is “public charge?” It’s an arcane immigration provision, designed to exclude immigrants who would be primarily dependent on govt for subsistence. Traditionally that's meant that they rely on cash assistance for subsistence or receive Medicaid for long-term care. 2/

The draft executive order would radically redefine “public charge” in three ways that would mean millions of legal immigrants and US citizens would be affected. 3/

1. It expands types of benefits that make you a “public charge” to pretty much ANYTHING:
·Health services including ACA Tax Credits, Medicaid & CHIP
·Nutrition programs like SNAP & WIC
·Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
·housing & energy assistance 4/

2. It expands definition to include anyone “who is likely at any time to use or receive one or more public benefits.” Essentially, you’re guilty simply by not being upper-income 5/

My colleague @inclusionist notes that simply having resources under 250% of poverty line—$62,750 for family of 4—will be enough in most cases for officials to deny green card w/ public-charge. That's nearly $12K more than median earnings of FT white male wage & salary workers! 6/

3. It includes not just immigrants but their dependents (meaning in many cases US citizen children). So if a US citizen kid gets healthcare through CHIP, their legally residing mom or dad could be denied a green card. 7/

This proposal is grounded in racism, Anti-Semitism, xenophobia & ableism. @inclusionist details how public charge has been used to exclude Irish immigrants, Mexican farmworkers, Jews fleeing Nazis, unmarried women, LGBT immigrants & those w/disabilities americanprogress.org/issues/immigra… 8/

These radical change under the Trump administration’s proposed “public charge” rule will bring cruel and harmful consequences. Here’s just 10 of them and pls add more in the comments: 9/

1) Separate parents & children: @washingtonpost op-ed by @governormarkell shows that up to 16 MILLION US citizen children could be affected by being separated from their parents or not using healthcare and other services they’re eligible for:
washingtonpost.com/opinions/do-we… 10/

2) Make it impossible for many immigrants to obtain visas to reunite w/family 11/

3) Effectively deny healthcare, food & tax credits to millions of ppl in immigrant families. As @CLASP_DC & NILC_org note, these investments boost long-term health, education, and earnings outcomes, and this will have repercussions for years to come. clasp.org/blog/trump-s-p… 12/

4) Create mass confusion. For example, although refugees & some other categories of immigrants are excluded from public charge, the rule is so expansive that resulting fear & confusion could prevent even eligible immigrants from accessing help or adjusting status 13/

5) Shift costs to hospitals, philanthropy and non-profit service providers. When ppl don’t get healthcare, nutrition, and services they need, the consequences are felt elsewhere… 14/

6) Exclude ppl w/disabilities or “any health condition” from our society: Proposal creates Catch-22: a medical condition is grounds for exclusion, & obtaining health care that treats or prevents the medical condition is also grounds for exclusion. Basically, don’t get sick! 15/

7) Generate culture of fear & toxic stress in affected communities and a chilling effect where families pull out of healthcare & other benefits they are eligible for in fear of deportation. This is ALREADY HAPPENING. See talkpoverty.org/2018/03/01/lea… and clasp.org/publications/r… 16/

8) Radically disrupt care for our children and parents. Immigrants are 20% of our nation’s childcare workforce and large % of LTSS workers for seniors & #PWD, jobs so low paid that many workers need to turn to public assistance. Imagine the disruption americanprogress.org/issues/early-c… 17/

9) Affect our food supply and exports. Immigrants constitute a huge share of our nation’s farmworkers. 18/

10) Hurt your own family, friends, neighbors, congregants, etc… This isn’t who we are as a country. And guess what? For many of us, we wouldn’t BE here if Trump’s public charge rule had been in effect for our ancestors. I know #IWouldntBeHere ). 19/

We can’t sit idly by. We need take action. Here’s what you can do. 20/

1) Make sure immigrants in your community know that the rule is unlikely to treat receipt of public services or benefits PRIOR to adoption of the rule as a factor. They should NOT drop their healthcare, nutrition or other services w/out consulting a lawyer. 21/

2) Before adoption as a final rule, proposal will need to be reviewed internally & published for public comment in Federal Register. We need to submit individual comments expressing negative consequences of this rule. @NILC_org and @CLASP_DC are amazing resources. Stay tuned! 22/

3) You can also help by sharing your story at Handsoff.org of how you, your family, or community would be affected. Real stories helped save the #ACA, we need to show real-life stakes here as well. 23/

We need to make this personal. I know #IWouldntBeHere if this cruel proposal had been in place. Would you? Pls sign up to take action at clasp.org/protecting-imm… 24/