The Trump Administration officially posted its proposed “public charge” rule for public comments. If your nonprofit serves immigrants and/or their families, then this policy issue matters to you. Read on to learn more and how to comment.
Under current laws, certain immigrants are deemed a “public charge” only if they meet a very narrow set of criteria. This allows many non-citizen individuals — and their citizen children and/or relatives — to use support services without jeopardizing their immigration status.
However, the Trump Administration is proposing to expand the “public charge” criteria to include key programs that touch many facets of nonprofit work. The programs include:
Under current laws, certain immigrants are deemed a “public charge” only if they meet a very narrow set of criteria. This allows many non-citizen individuals — and their citizen children and/or relatives — to use support services without jeopardizing their immigration status.
However, the Trump Administration is proposing to expand the “public charge” criteria to include key programs that touch many facets of nonprofit work. The programs include:
- Non-emergency Medicaid
- Medicare Part D
- Housing Assistance (public housing and Section 8)
- SNAP (food stamps)
The likely result will be a client withdrawing from these services, which harms individuals, families, and communities. But even if your organization does not provide or connect clients to the impacted services, you may still have clients or client family members who use them. In conversations with partners, we’ve learned that if one service is disrupted for individuals, participation in other services will likely be disrupted for them and their families. Therefore, we need your organization, its staff, and its clients to take action. Here is what you can do:
Learn More
Familiarize yourself with the proposed changes using the materials available from the national Protecting Immigrant Families Campaign (PIF). PIF will be hosting a Public Charge 101 webinar on October 17th, which you can register for here. PIF’s resource library contains key information on the proposed rule, including FAQ’s, fact sheets, and resources. New materials are likely to be added during the coming weeks.
Act
You can submit a comment through the PIF microsite before December 10th.* This is the easiest way for you to comment on the rules, since the actual Federal Register post is difficult to navigate, dense, and technical. Nonprofits are free to comment on proposed regulations, since the IRS does not consider this to be a lobbying activity. On Friday October 12th, PIF will be holding a webinar that will share how, when, and where to comment, as well as tips for your comments. Click here to register.
Share A Story
Washington Nonprofits will be submitting comments on the rule before the December 10th deadline because the proposal runs counter to our vision of creating thriving communities across our state. But, we need stories from organizations and individuals to make our comments stand out. Contact us to either share a story or arrange a time to speak with our staff about what this proposed change means for you.
Please let us know if you have any questions about this proposed rule and we can help connect you to the right information.
Learn More
Familiarize yourself with the proposed changes using the materials available from the national Protecting Immigrant Families Campaign (PIF). PIF will be hosting a Public Charge 101 webinar on October 17th, which you can register for here. PIF’s resource library contains key information on the proposed rule, including FAQ’s, fact sheets, and resources. New materials are likely to be added during the coming weeks.
Act
You can submit a comment through the PIF microsite before December 10th.* This is the easiest way for you to comment on the rules, since the actual Federal Register post is difficult to navigate, dense, and technical. Nonprofits are free to comment on proposed regulations, since the IRS does not consider this to be a lobbying activity. On Friday October 12th, PIF will be holding a webinar that will share how, when, and where to comment, as well as tips for your comments. Click here to register.
Share A Story
Washington Nonprofits will be submitting comments on the rule before the December 10th deadline because the proposal runs counter to our vision of creating thriving communities across our state. But, we need stories from organizations and individuals to make our comments stand out. Contact us to either share a story or arrange a time to speak with our staff about what this proposed change means for you.
Please let us know if you have any questions about this proposed rule and we can help connect you to the right information.
* When you comment, it is important for you to make the comments as unique as possible using your own words and voice. This will ensure that you beat the algorithm used by the government to review comments. Comments that are too similar will be counted as one comment, regardless if there are multiple comments submitted, which limits their effectiveness.