Reform Efforts
Reform Efforts
In an attempt to mitigate the devastating effects of restrictions on access to public benefits and housing for many immigrants, advocates have fought and won some important reform efforts, few on the national level and more on the state level. These efforts have had varying levels of success in ensuring more access to certain public benefits for limited immigrant groups.
The below reforms are recent removal of racist Trump Administration policies. Though they mitigate harm done under the past administration, they do not bring us closer to transformation:
The Biden Administration recently withdrew the proposed rule change to mix-status families which governs how families with qualified immigrants or citizens and unqualified immigrants including undocumented immigrants can be served in federally funded housing programs. The proposed rule would have put millions of families at risk of eviction or separation. Note this only returns to the current rule which still does not allow the unqualified immigrant in the household to receive any portion of the assistance. (1)
The Biden Administration recently rescinded the public charge rule passed under the previous administration. This will help to ensure accessing qualified public benefits will not negatively impact the path to citizenship. (2)
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) recently finalized new federal regulations and accompanying frequently-asked-questions (FAQ) guidance that remove the Trump administration’s unfair and unlawful restrictions denying undocumented and other immigrant students access to COVID-19–related emergency financial assistance grants under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF).
People in immigration detention centers being released with no fixed and adequate housing are now considered homeless and can qualify for housing and supports.
The federal government expanded health care options by allowing some qualified immigrants to apply for health insurance in the market created by the ACA (3) and state governments in more progressive states have worked to offer health coverage, cash assistance, and food support to more groups of immigrants through state funded programs. (4) It should be noted that the below efforts are mitigating the harm of the lack of universal coverage for some immigrant communities but still are leaving millions without access to health care, especially undocumented immigrants who still are barred from accessing most state funded programs:
The ACA opened the market up to most groups of immigrants but still excludes undocumented immigrants and DREAMERS
States like New York (5) and Minnesota (6) have expanded their state funded programs to include many immigrant communities, New York even offers children health insurance for undocumented children