Public Charge Briefings this Week and Lift the Bar (federal legislation)

FoodSNAP

01/31/22

We are writing to alert you to two important briefings this week involving the federal “public charge” rule, as well as urge your support in getting more MA Members of Congress to co-sponsor the LIFT the Bar Act.

Public charge briefings Feb 2^nd and Feb 3rd:

See alert BELOW from our partners at the National Protecting Immigrant Families (PIF) campaign about two important briefings to ensure immigrant-headed households access benefits they are eligible to receive for themselves and their families (the PIF eblast also includes other information about vaccines):

Wednesday, Feb 2^nd briefing by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on the agency’s progress in implementing the Biden Administration’s Executive Order directing federal agencies to eliminate “barriers that prevent immigrants from accessing government services available to them”.
Thursday, Feb 3^rd briefing hosted by Projecting Immigrant Families (PIF) and No Kid Hungry on the findings of a recent survey re the impact of the harmful public charge policy on immigrant families. BSP Research will share what messages and which messengers resonate with survey respondents and how we can ensure that our nation’s children are nourished.

Please register BELOW. Both briefings are at 3 PM EST!

Members of Congress Needed to Co-Sponsor the LIFT the Bar Act:

LIFT the Bar Act, H.R.5227, will eliminate the “5-year bar” or 5-year waiting period for certain legally present adults who are SNAP (or cash) eligible but need to wait 5 years from entry to qualify. Here is a tool kit created by Protecting Immigrant Families. Please note, there is NO 5-year wait for children, certain immigrants with disabilities or certain work histories, nor Legal Permanent residents who were previously refugees, asylees, are Cuban/Haitian entrants and other special categories).

The following are the current MA members who are listed as co-sponsors of the LIFT the Bar Act:

Rep Jake Auchincloss [D-MA-4]

Rep. Jame McGovern [D-MA-2]

Rep. Ayanna Pressley [D-MA-7]

Rep. Lori Trahan [D-MA-3]

Please a) THANK them and b) help us get 100% of the MA Delegation on board – especially Reps Seth Moulton, Stephen Lynch and William Keating. The PIF Tool Kit has excellent materials for outreach to your member.

MCLE-MLRI Immigrant Benefits Training – Thursday, April 7th

Just two months away from the annual MLRI and Mass Continuing Legal Education’s annual nuts-and-bolts on how immigration status affects eligibility for state and federal public benefits. Register HERE.

From: Adriana Cadena <cadena@nilc.org>

Subject: LTB Week + Upcoming Public Charge Events!

Date: January 27, 2022

LTB Week + Upcoming Public Charge Events!

Dear Allies,

We are in the middle of our Week of Action on the LIFT the BAR Act, and we want to thank everyone who has participated and joined us so far! We are excited to share that two of our most popular resources – messages for meetings and the LTBA fact sheet – are now available in Spanish. All of our resources are available in the LIFT the BAR Act Partner Tool Kit. You can find a draft email to send to the Hill, sample social media messages and more. We hope that these resources will make it easy to send messages to the Hill urging our targets to cosponsor the legislation!

This week, we are sharing two exciting events. The first is a briefing from DHS on the agency’s progress in implementing President Biden’s executive order on public charge. The second is a webinar hosted by No Kid Hungry, funder of the immigrant families poll PIF released in December, walking through the poll findings with the pollster. Keep reading for more information on how to register!

Register Today for DHS Public Charge Briefing!

A year ago, President Biden signed an executive order directing federal agencies to eliminate “barriers that prevent immigrants from accessing government services available to them” and specifically called out public charge. On February 2nd at 2:30pm ET, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ur M. Jaddou will anchor a DHS briefing on the agency’s progress in implementing that policy. The live event will feature a question-and-answer segment, and partners are encouraged to urge DHS to commit additional resources and engage a wider range of government and non-governmental partners in outreach to thaw the chilling effect. To ask a question, you must pre-register for the event. If you register today, you should receive a confirmation email by Monday, with instructions to access the event and submit a question. If you don’t get that email, please contact Ed Walz (ed@springboard.partners) in our Communications Working Group.

Public Charge: Thawing the Chill for Immigrant Families

Join No Kid Hungry on Thursday, February 3rd at 2pm ET for a webinar highlighting the findings of a recent survey on the impact of the harmful public charge policy on immigrant families. No Kid Hungry teamed up with the Protecting Immigrant Families (PIF) coalition on a survey to gain a deeper understanding of the barriers keeping immigrant families from accessing programs that help feed, house and care for their children. The findings show that nearly half of the immigrant families that needed help during the pandemic, didn’t apply due to immigration concerns. Hear from Gabriel R. Sanchez, Ph.D. Vice President of Research at BSP Research on what messages and messengers resonate with survey respondents and how we can ensure that our nation’s children are nourished.

Spanish Language Videos Counter Misinformation About Vaccines for Children

The Kaiser Family Foundation’s La Conversación series, which features health care providers answering questions about COVID-19 vaccines, is out with a new 5-minute video and multiple new FAQ videos in Spanish. Only about one in four children ages 5-11 a little more than half of children ages 12-17 have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose. Educating parents about the vaccine and countering misinformation with facts from health care providers is still critical!

Ms. Magazine Op-ed:
“Congress Must Take This Critical Step to Protect Immigrant Survivors”

Yesterday, Ms. Magazine published an Op-ed from PIF partner Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence (API-GBV) on the importance of passing the LIFT the BAR Act. The piece explains and emphasizes the impact that the bill would have on immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking and other gender-based violence, writing “proudly endorsed by dozens of local, state and national organizations, the LIFT the BAR Act is a critical step forward in ensuring that immigrant communities and immigrant survivors of gender-based violence have access to the economic resources and healthcare they need to live safely and thrive.” Continue reading the full article here and be sure to share it with your networks!

In Solidarity,

Adriana Cadena, on behalf of the PIF Team

Visit us at https://protectingimmigrantfamilies.org/

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