The new green cards rule could impact as many as 200,000 Connecticut residents. This number includes tens of thousands of kids enrolled in the HUSKY health insurance program.
Conn: 200K Impacted By Immigration Change
Number Includes Tens Of Thousands Of Children
By SUSAN HAIGH Associated Press
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut officials on Wednesday estimated as many as 200,000 residents, including tens of thousands of children on a public health care program, could be impacted by sweeping Trump administration changes that would deny green cards to many immigrants who use Medicaid, food stamps and other forms of public assistance.
Democratic Attorney General William Tong, other state officials and advocates predicted the planned changes will lead to more expensive emergency room visits, increased demand at food pantries and a decline in children enrolled in Connecticut's HUSKY health insurance program, ultimately having "profound implications for the state," including economic ones.
"We're talking about the core of Connecticut's economy and the core working people of this state that power this economy here in Connecticut," Tong said during a news conference at his office. "And this is an attack on all of them and their ability to make it work for themselves and their families and their communities."
Similar concerns have been raised in other parts of the country .
Set to take effect in October, the rule change announced last week by President Donald Trump's administration has been pitched as a way to keep only self-sufficient immigrants in the country.
"That's a core principle of the American dream. It's deeply embedded in our history, and particularly our history related to legal immigration," recently said Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Immigrants who want permanent legal status, commonly called a green card, have long been required to prove they won't be "a public charge." Under the administration's plan, the term will be redefined to mean those who are "more likely than not" to receive public benefits over a certain period. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will also now consider other factors, including income, education and English proficiency.
On Tuesday, Connecticut, New York, Vermont and New York City filed a federal lawsuit seeking to stop the change. It's the latest effort by Connecticut officials to oppose Trump administration immigration policies. A USCIS official declined to comment on the pending litigation and referred any questions to Cuccinelli's comments contained in an Aug. 12 news release announcing the public charge rule. Cuccinelli said enforcement of the "public charge inadmissibility law" will promote "long-standing ideals" of self-reliance and immigrant success.
"We are here to stand up once again and say that Governor Lamont and I are in opposition to this discrimination, to this cruelty, to this racism, to this vilification of immigrants," Democratic Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said. "Each day, there's just a new theme, a new rule, a new policy directive. And so Connecticut is going to continue to fight back."
Connecticut Department of Social Services Commissioner Deirdre Gifford stressed that means-tested programs like Medicaid, food stamps and temporary family assistance already have rigid restrictions on non-citizens accessing the benefits, including a rule that permanent residents need to be in the U.S. lawfully for five years before they can access the benefits. She predicted this latest changes will only confuse and "scare away" people from getting the services they may need for themselves and their families.
"Hunger will not simply disappear. Illness will not cure itself," she said. "This rule will force legal residents, legal immigrant families to endure unnecessary harm during their pursuit of citizenship."
Nichelle Mullins, president and CEO of Charter Oak Health Center in Hartford, said the 18 community health centers across the state have already seen a growing number of patients moving away from government-funded Medicaid to paying for the care out-of-pocket or skipping treatment — a change could adversely impact the centers financially. Many are immigrant families who were already fearful of the government and of being deported, she said, adding how this latest changes will exacerbate such fear.
"This rule will make them believe that if they continue to apply for Medicaid or other programs, for which they are lawfully eligible, that they may face deportation," Mullins said, who called the rule change a "bullying and fear tactic."
Hispanic Outlook is an education magazine in the US available both in print and digital form. Visit https://www.hispanicoutlook.com/education-magazine for information about our latest issue, including our new supplement Physician Outlook.
Hispanic Outlook’s Job Board allows applicants to search for jobs by category, by city and by state. Both Featured and Latest Job Positions are available at https://hispanicoutlookjobs.com/
And for employers, Hispanic Outlook’s Job Board offers a wide variety of posting options. Further information is available at https://hispanicoutlookjobs.com/employer-products/
Other articles from Hispanic Outlook:
Doctors Weigh In On New Green Card Rule
CHICAGO (AP) — Diabetics skipping regular checkups. Young asthmatics not getting preventive care. A surge in expensive emergency room visits. Doctors and public health experts warn of poor health and rising costs they say will come from sweeping Trump administration changes that would deny green cards to many immigrants who use Medicaid, as well as food stamps and other forms of public assistance. Some advocates say they're already seeing the fallout even before the complex 837-page rule takes effect in October. President Donald Trump's administration trumpeted its aggressive approach this past week as a way to keep only self-sufficient immigrants in the country, but health experts argue it could force potentially millions of low-income migrants to choose between needed services and their bid to stay legally in the U.S. "People are going to be sicker. They're not going to go get health care, or not until they have to go to an emergency room," said Lisa David, president and CEO of Public Health Solutions, New York's largest…
Read full article here
Deny Green Cards Because Of Food Stamps?
WASHINGTON (AP) — Trump administration rules that could deny green cards to immigrants who use Medicaid, food stamps, housing vouchers or other forms of public assistance are going into effect, one of its most aggressive moves to restrict legal immigration. Federal law already requires those seeking green cards and legal status to prove they will not be a burden to the U.S., or what's called a "public charge," but the new rules, made public on Monday, detail a broader range of programs that could disqualify them. Much of President Donald Trump's effort to crack down on illegal immigration has been in the spotlight, but this rule change targets people who entered the United States legally and are seeking permanent status. It's part of a push to move the U.S. to a system that focuses on immigrants' skills instead of emphasizing the reunification of families, as it has done. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers will now weigh public assistance along with other factors such as education, household income and health to…
Read full article here
Is There A Doctor…Anywhere?
Perhaps this has happened to you (and if it hasn't, it might happen soon). You need to see a Doctor, but you’re told you can’t see the Doctor for weeks or maybe even a month. Or maybe your trusted family Doctor has either moved away, died or retired, and an all-purpose medical group has moved into that office. More than likely you’ll have to get used to seeing non-Doctors including nurses and APNs for routine office visits. Unless the projected Physician shortage is reversed, that’s the future of medical care. If that doesn’t sound wrong, how would you feel if you were on trial in a case where your life, liberty or livelihood was on the line, and the only person you could find to argue on your behalf was a paralegal, not a licensed attorney? Unlike an attorney, every time you see a Doctor there’s a chance that his or her skills will discover and treat something that would otherwise severely impact...
Read full article here
Graduating More Latino Doctors
In the 2003 landmark Supreme Court decision on affirmative action at the University of Michigan Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote, “We expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today.” Since that 2003 decision, the United States has made little progress in the areas Justice O’Connor had hoped, says Jorge Girotti, director, The Hispanic Center of Excellence at the University of Illinois College of Medicine. In fact, it appears the country is moving backwards, he added. Statistics suggest that most U.S. medical schools can just attract, enroll or graduate significant numbers of Latinos. In the 2018-19 school year Latinos comprised only 6.4% of students enrolled in U.S. medical schools. Some schools, however, are the exception. The University of Illinois College of Medicine, for...
Read full article here
