Immigration concerns continued to deter immigrant families with children from safety net programs in 2021, compounding other enrollment difficulties

Immigration concerns continued to deter immigrant families with children from safety net programs in 2021, compounding other enrollment difficulties

Collection:
Health Policy and Services Research
Author(s):
Haley, Jennifer M., author
Gonzalez, Dulce, author
Kenney, Genevieve M., author
Contributor(s):
Health Policy Center (Urban Institute), issuing body.
Publication:
Washington, DC : Urban Institute, December 2022
Language(s):
English
Format:
Text
Subject(s):
Child Health Services -- statistics & numerical data
Emigrants and Immigrants
Family
Health Equity -- economics
Health Policy
Health Services Accessibility -- statistics & numerical data
Safety-net Providers
United States
Genre(s):
Technical Report
Abstract:
In 2018, the Trump administration proposed expanding the “public charge” rule to consider use of noncash public benefits, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, and housing assistance, in applications for green cards or temporary visas. The rule was implemented in February 2020, but it was halted in March 2021 after the Biden administration stopped defending the rule following a federal court order vacating it (Protecting Immigrant Families 2021). Research found that even before the Trump-era public charge rule was implemented, it was associated with “chilling effects,” or avoidance of public programs among immigrant families, including among those not affected by the rule. Moreover, although the rule did not apply to citizen children in immigrant families or include children’s benefits use in their parents’ public charge determinations, immigrant families with children were even more likely to report chilling effects than those without children. In this analysis, we build on research using the Urban Institute’s Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey (WBNS), a nationally representative, internet-based survey of nonelderly adults conducted in December 2021 that assessed avoidance of public benefits among adults in immigrant families. Here we assess the responses of adults in families with incomes below 400 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) who speak English or Spanish, were born outside the US (foreign-born) or live with one or more foreign-born family members, and live with children under age 19 (hereafter called “adults in immigrant families with children”). Where relevant, we compare the experiences of adults in immigrant families with those of adults in all-US-born families, in which all members were born in the US. Because the WBNS was conducted in English and Spanish, it may not fully capture the experiences of adults who speak other languages.
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 (17 pages))
Illustrations:
Illustrations
NLM Unique ID:
9918591682806676 (See catalog record)
Permanent Link:
http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918591682806676