CPCA Continues the Fight for Immigrant Rights
The anti-immigrant policies put in place by the federal administration have created an increased atmosphere of fear in our immigrant communities. This fear is referred to as the ‘chilling effect’ and it has discouraged many immigrants and their family members from enrolling into lifesaving services, such as Medi-Cal, out of fear that their immigration status, or that of a family member, will be affected. These fears have been further exacerbated by the public charge rule, which would expand the list of public benefit programs currently considered in a public charge assessment when an individual applies to enter or reenter the country or applies for legal permanent residency (i.e. green card).
New Public Charge Assessment Tool
To help mitigate the chilling effect, CPCA has invited health centers throughout the state to participate in service provider trainings to help them increase their understanding of the rule and learn some messaging techniques to use with patients. To help advance these efforts, CPCA has participated in an advisory committee led by the San Mateo Legal Aid to help develop an assessment tool to help immigrants and those who assist them, understand the current public charge rules. The tool provides a simple guide to understanding if an immigration status may be affected by benefits, when benefits are safe, and when to seek legal advice. We hope that this tool will help reduce the chilling effect by helping patients and immigrant communities understand if their use of benefits may be deem them a public charge.
The tool is currently available in English at KeepYourBenefitsCA.org or in Spanish at TusBeneficiosPublicos.org. This tool is also available via text by texting “Benefits” (for English) or “Libre” (for Spanish) to 650.376.8006. San Mateo Legal Aid is currently working to expand this tool in other languages, including API languages. Also, a two-page explainer on how and when to use the tool is available on CPCA’s Immigration Resource page .
Addition of Training Modules to Help Providers Navigate Public Charge with Patients
To help health centers better understand how to use the tool, CPCA is looking to work through the Protecting Immigrants Access to Public Benefits Workgroup, which is comprised of 16 statewide organizations and one national organization, to add a module or a second day training to the Public Charge Training Modules for Advocates and Service Providers.’ These service provider trainings are a package of train-the-trainer style presentations to help service providers (i.e. frontline staff, enrollers, CHWs / Promotoras, service providers, county staff) and CBOs discuss public charge with patients and the community. Each module includes a script to help guide presenters. We are hoping to add a final component to help attendees put into practice what they’ve learned through skits and role play and hope to add the assessment tool to this piece as well.
If you’re interested in helping to host a training for your region, or would like to request a training, please contact Liz Oseguera (loseguera@cpca.org). CPCA is also working through the workgroup to create community facing trainings and modules.
CPCA Files Lawsuit to Stop Changes to Public Charge
In August, CPCA, along with La Clinica de la Raza, filed a lawsuit to block changes to the public charge rule. You can read the full lawsuit here.
While the final rule was officially released on Wednesday, August 14, CPCA had been working closely with immigrant partners for months preparing litigation in the event that the public charge rule was released.
CPCA and plaintiffs have been represented by the National Immigration Law Center, the National Health Law Program, the Western Center on Law and Poverty, and the Asian Americans Advancing Justice (Los Angeles). On October 2, a federal judge in Oakland heard CPCA’s case, along with two other cases filed in California (Santa Clara /San Francisco County & California’s Attorney General). According to the Vice President of Government Affairs, Andie Martinez Patterson, who attended the hearing, the judge felt that the arguments used on behalf of the plaintiffs did not justify a national injunction and ultimately granted a partial injunction. CPCA is working with the other plaintiffs in the case and our attorneys, to determine next steps in our litigation efforts given the ruling in the preliminary injunction.
However, nationwide injunctions were granted in three different federal courts (New York, Manhattan, Washington) preventing the public charge rule from going into effect on October 15th as previously scheduled. Therefore, nothing has changed and immigrant patients are encouraged to continue accessing lifesaving health services and public benefits. Unfortunately, the Trump Administration has the opportunity to appeal each of the injunctions. If they are successful in their efforts, we will see a new implementation date, at which time CPCA will continue to work with immigrant partners to fight back.
Get Involved
Additionally, we invite health centers to join the National Health Center Immigration Workgroup (NHCIW) that CPCA leads in partnership with the Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO) and the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC). This workgroup is focused on aligning the health center voice on immigrant issues while providing a platform for information and resource sharing. We are also using this workgroup to leverage the efforts of the Protecting Immigrant Families (PIF) Campaign, a coalition led by our immigrant and anti-poverty partners to advance nationwide advocacy efforts against the public charge rule. We are honored that the PIF campaign appointed CPCA, along with AAPCHO, as the health sector leads for their campaign efforts. NHCIW continues to meet monthly and now has over 330 members. If you wish to join please complete the registration form found HERE.