By effectively denying benefits to low income immigrants – benefits which are widely used by low income citizens – the new public charge rule is one of the most anti-poor measures of the federal government in recent history.
One in seven adult immigrants avoided using certain public benefits in 2018 out of fear of their use would derail their presence in the U.S.
It has been estimated that between 1 and 3.2 million fewer members of immigrant families would forego Medicaid.
The effect on publicly assisted housing, due to immigrants not seeking these benefits – thetre is also a rule proposed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development that would keep “mixed status” families from living together in public housing by barring non-citizen members.
More than 60 public health and policy scholars chairs and faculty, as well as the American Public Health Association and the American Academy of Nursing joined an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief, concluding that the public charge rule threatens public health on a national scale.