Immigrants drop out of nutrition programs over citizenship fears
Immigrants drop out of nutrition programs over citizenship fears
September 3, 2018
Bob Fredericks
Legal and illegal immigrants alike are turning down government help to buy infant formula and healthy food for their kids because they fear that Team Trump could ban them from ever getting a green card if they get aid, a report said Monday.
President Trump recently proposed denying citizenship or even green cards to any immigrants who accepted federal benefits, including welfare, children’s health insurance, ObamaCare and the Women, Infants and Children federal nutrition program.
And local health providers and advocates across the US, including in the Big Apple, say they’re getting calls from panicked immigrant families demanding that they be dropped from the WIC program, Politico reported.
Zach Hennessey, vice president of programs at Public Health Solutions, a large health nonprofit in New York City, said his agency was struggling to deal with immigrants.
They want eligible people to be able to get benefits, but if they advise them to do so, they may end up hurting them in the long run.
“Without a draft rule being released, we don’t think it’s wise to frighten people or tell them that they’re in the clear,” he told the website.
Trump’s plan is the brainchild of senior adviser Stephen Miller, the 32-year-old immigration hardliner who was also one of the principal architects of the president’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy at the southern border.
That policy led to the forced separation of more than 2,500 children from their parents, part of the administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
The administration would implement the policy by executive order, which means it would not require congressional approval.
It’s one part of Miller’s goal of slashing the number of legal immigrants entering the US each year.
Immigration lawyers and advocates said it would be the biggest change to the legal immigration system in decades, and estimate that more than 20 million immigrants could be affected.
Agencies in at least 18 states told the website that enrollment has dropped up to 20 percent because people fear losing their eventual path to citizenship.
Advocates say the policy change could also put babies who are US-born citizens at risk of problems including low birth weight that might eventually lead to increased health care costs.
WIC serves about half of all babies born in the US by providing vouchers or benefit cards so pregnant women and families with small children can buy food staples and infant formula.
https://nypost.com/2018/09/03/immigr...zenship-fears/
