No one should be denied food, health care and other basic necessities of life

Immigrants who come to this country for a better life, as immigrants from all over the world have done for the last 500 years, are legally entitled to some of the federal benefits, including emergency food support. It is a value that we hold dear — we don’t let anyone go hungry, whatever their circumstances might be. Should accepting any of those benefits be grounds for penalizing someone later?

That is the core question the public charge rule deals with. After months of rumors and leaked rule drafts, the Trump administration has finally published the public charge rule on the federal register. This rule, if made final, would pose a significant barrier to citizenship for lawful immigrant residents who have a prior history of using support programs for food, housing, and health care-programs that they are legally authorized to use and need to help during tough economic times. You can head more about the proposed rule and why that matters here.

The proposed rule is inhumane and will only increase hunger and poverty in our community. But we have the power to stop this rule from being effective. Now that the rule is officially published, we, the public, have until December 10 to submit comments. The federal government must review and respond to every unique comment submitted on the rule. Please take a few minutes to submit a comment and also share this alert with your friends, colleagues, and family.

Take action:

Two steps you can take right now to ensure food for everyone in need

Write and send your public comment
Visit the Protecting Immigrant Families Washington’s comment portal. Select a topic area for a template that you must personalize. This portal is secure and will then send your public comment to the federal rule comment site.

Urge others to make a comment
Spread the word among your friends, coworkers, family. Use social media with these suggested posts. Urge everyone in your network to submit a comment on the public charge rule. Every single comment matters!

Please remember that the federal government must review and respond to every unique comment submitted on the rule. So please make sure you customize your comment and add your own perspective, even if only couple of lines.

The deadline to submit comments is December 10th. Please speak up and oppose this rule change. If enough of us speak up, it’ll make a difference.