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Three in 10 adults in California immigrant families with low incomes avoided safety net programs in 2020: building trust and improving access to safety net programs in the pandemic recovery
Three in 10 adults in California immigrant families with low incomes avoided safety net programs in 2020: building trust and improving access to safety net programs in the pandemic recovery
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- Urban Institute research report
- Author(s):
- Bernstein, Hamutal, author
Gonzalez, Dulce, author
McTarnaghan, Sara, author
Torres Rodríguez, Sonia, author - Contributor(s):
- Urban Institute, issuing body.
- Publication:
- Washington, DC : Urban Institute, July 2021
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Emigrants and Immigrants -- statistics & numerical data
Food Assistance -- statistics & numerical data
Medicaid -- statistics & numerical data
Poverty -- statistics & numerical data
California
United States - Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Many immigrant families avoided safety net and pandemic relief programs in recent years over concerns that their participation would have adverse immigration consequences. These chilling effects on program participation occurred in the context of a restrictive immigration policy environment under the Trump administration, including the expansion of the “public charge” rule, which was associated with declines in participation in Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and other key safety net programs (Barofsky et al. 2020; Bernstein, Gonzalez, et al. 2019; Bernstein, Gonzalez, Karpman, et al. 2020; Bernstein, Karpman, et al. 2021; FRAC and NILC 2020; Straut-Eppsteiner 2020; Tolbert, Pham, and Artiga 2020). Though the Biden administration has reverted to prior guidance on the public charge rule and reversed many other immigration policy changes, chilling effects may continue to deter adults from seeking safety net supports for which they or their children are eligible. About half of adults in California live in a household with one or more immigrant family members, and half of children in California have an immigrant parent. California has expanded immigrants’ access to the safety net more so than any other state by offering Medicaid to undocumented children, young adults, and, beginning in 2022, adults ages 50 and over (Cha and McConville 2021). However, many families still fear immigration consequences of accessing supports to meet their basic needs. In 2019, we found that many California immigrant families avoided noncash benefits such as health, nutrition, or housing assistance for fear of risking future green card status (Bernstein, Gonzalez, McTarnaghan, et al. 2020). Such interruptions in access to supports will make it more challenging for California immigrant families with low incomes to recover from the COVID-19 crisis, during which many of these families faced numerous health and financial risks and hardships (Artiga and Rae 2020; Bernstein, Gonzalez, and Karpman 2021). Building on previous work assessing material hardship and chilling effects on program participation (Bernstein, Gonzalez, and Karpman 2021; Bernstein, Gonzalez, McTarnaghan, et al. 2020), this study provides on-the-ground perspectives of immigrant families and immigrant-serving health and nutrition support providers in California. We spoke with families and providers as policy priorities were shifting in the early months of the Biden administration, between March and May 2021. These interviews shed light on immigrant families’ experiences during the pandemic, their access to safety net programs and emergency resources, and strategies to build trust with such families and improve their safety net access under the new federal administration. The voices of adults in immigrant families and immigrant service providers who have navigated the pandemic can help inform continued and new investments in programming and navigation assistance. In this report, we draw on data from the Urban Institute’s December 2020 Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey (WBNS), a nationally representative internet-based survey of adults ages 18 to 64. We focus on the survey’s sample of 307 adults in California immigrant families with low family incomes, given the relevance of federal and state safety net programs for this population. We define low income as below 200 percent of the federal poverty level and adults in immigrant families as adults who were born outside the US or who live with one or more family members born outside the US.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-DC license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (iv, 41 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918300286906676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918300286906676