What's up, 2019?: Trump wants to deport public benefit recipients

INSTAGRAM / TAMMY DUCKWORTH

Illinois' Sen. Tammy Duckworth with her parents, depended on public assistance when they first arrived in the U.S.

FOR ILLINOIS Sen. Tammy Duckworth, this fight is personal. When she, her brother and father arrived in Hawaii in 1984, they had to seek government assistance.

"We showed up in Hawaii with like $300 to our name," Duckworth told CBS News. "If my family did not have access to food stamps, I would've dropped out of high school and I don't know where I would be today — but I would probably not be a United States senator."

“This proposal is as heartless as it is dangerous. My family teetered on the brink of homelessness when I was in high school and relied on food stamps to survive. My own mother is an immigrant—and if this proposal had been in place during those years, my family could’ve been forced to choose between her citizenship and going hungry," Duckworth continued in a statement.

EDITOR'S NOTE: What's Up, 2019: is part of series of posts about issues facing the AAPI community in the coming year.

“No family should have to face that choice. No one should have to decide between seeking urgently needed health care—or shelter, or food—and getting ripped away from their loved ones. This proposal isn’t just unfair. It’s cruel, unacceptable and un-American,” she said.

Duckworth's opposition to a proposed rule by the Trump administration that would prevent many low-income immigrants who use public benefits from obtaining U.S. residency is deeply rooted in her personal experience.

The Trump administration is now considering a rule change that would significantly expand the definition of a "public charge" and would make it more difficult for certain low-income immigrants to secure permanent residency or temporary visas.

“This is an issue because a lot of the immigrants when they first come here, they need a little bit of federal assistance in order to get their foot in America and build themselves up and so this policy proposal, if it passes, will affect 23 million immigrants who are looking to get a green car,.” said Thu Nguyen, senior communications associate at OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, one of about a dozen of non-profit organizations participating in the campaign, named OneNation,

In its war against immigrants -- especially low-income immigrants -- is not only directed against  undocumented immigrants. He wants strict enforcement of the law that would kick out immigrants who receive public assistance.

The "public charge" term is used by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to describe a person whom the government believes will rely on government welfare programs for subsistence. People who fall into this category are deemed inadmissible to the U.S. "on public charge grounds."

“The public charge, simply put, is a way to prevent immigrants from becoming legal permanent residents based on whether or not they use public support, even if temporarily,” said Dr. Tung Nguyen, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and the former chair of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders during the Obama administration.

My parents often would "sponsor" family members who wished to immigrate to the U.S. under the H-1B or student visa and there was a question that asked my parents to guarantee that the person they were sponsoring would not be a burden to the U.S. So I grew up with a steady stream of immigrants transitioning to the U.S. or waiting for school to start or a job to begin or just acculturating themselves to a new country. Thank goodness for a convertible couch.

Under current policy, immigration officers can deny green cards if, among other things, an applicant has used cash aid like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, also known as welfare, or Supplemental Security Income, which helps the elderly, blind and disabled who have little or no income.

But the Trump administration wants to expand who could be defined as a public charge — it wants to include past or current use of Medicaid, food stamps, Section 8 housing assistance, and a Medicare low-income subsidy for prescription drugs.

To be clear, immigrants will not be penalized for use of those safety net programs before the final rule is published, if it survives its legal challenges. Immigrants will be given 60 days after publication to drop programs they believe will affect their immigration case, according to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, a national nonprofit legal advocacy group.

Trump administration officials say the proposal is just enforcing a rule that was already in place.  The old rule was aimed at promoting what they call “self-sufficiency” for those admitted into the U.S.

“Self-sufficiency has long been a basic principle of the United States immigration law,” the proposal says.

Kirstjen Nielsen, DHS secretary, told NBC News recently that the rule would “promote immigrant self-sufficiency and protect finite resources by ensuring that they are not likely to become burdens on American taxpayers.”

THE CHILDREN'S PARTNERSHIP

"The proposed public charge regulations pose a cruel choice for families who now have to balance keeping their families together with seeking medical care, putting food on the table, or keeping a roof over their heads," said Doreena Wong, Health Access Project Director at Advancing Justice-LA. "We know there's a lot of fear, but we urge everyone to stay enrolled in any public benefit program you need to keep your family healthy."

Annually, about 40% of green card holders are from Asian and Pacific Island nations, and family sponsorship accounts for most of them. Many community members have heard about the proposed changes, which have caused much confusion, anxiety, and fear. Already, the proposed regulation has cast a "chilling effect" on the community.

"Seventy-seven percent of our patients are on Medi-Cal, 62% are Asian, and they're primarily low-income," said Penny Chen, member and Community Service Manager at Asian Pacific Health Care Ventures. "Many of our patients are scared and confused because of the proposed public charge rule. Even patients who are green card holders do not want to apply for Medi-Cal. These proposed rules will only make our broken health care system worse."

"Even before the proposed public charge rules were posted, many members of our South Asian clients were not applying for public benefits in fear that it would adversely affect their immigration status," said Shikha Bhatnagar, executive director of South Asian Network. "Even mothers are refusing to get food stamps for their U.S. citizen children because they are so frightened."

Sherry Hirota, CEO of California-based Asian Health Services, called the proposed regulation both “unfair” and “un-American.”

“This country is built on immigrants, and that to deny immigrants — legal immigrants, tax-paying immigrants — the ability to access services when they need it, even in a small amount, is really something that will be detrimental to our country,” Hirota said.

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Homeland Security chief stumbles trying to defend immigration policy; Congress express concern of deportations of Southeast Asians

SCREEN CAPTURE / YOUTUBE

Homeland Security Secretary defends immigration policy during House hearings last week.

AS HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY KIRSTJEN NIELSEN underwent sometimes rancorous grilling from members of Congress over immigration policy, 53 members of Congress expressed their dismay over the recent deportations of Southeast Asians.

Nielsen made her first appearance before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday (Dec. 20), and questioning contrasted sharply between Republicans who praised her efforts and Democrats who unleashed all their rage over her agency’s treatment of foreign-born minors and migrants in its custody.

The hearing came less than a week after DHS announced that a 7-year-old Guatemalan girl named Jakelin Caal Maquin died in Border Patrol’s custody, and as Donald Trump was threatening to shut down parts of the federal government unless he receives $5 billion toward a border wall he promised Mexico would pay for.

But while Nielsen had good reason to expect tough questions, she seemed unprepared to deal with them.

Nielsen was bashed for the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" policy that led to thousands of family separations over the summer, its handling of the migrant caravan, the death of a 7-year-old Guatemalan girl in Border Patrol custody, and a policy announced during the middle of Thursday’s hearing that bars asylum-seekers from entering the U.S.

At one point, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., stormed out of the meeting after calling her a liar.

“Shame on everybody that separates children, that allows them to stay at the other side of the border fearing death, fearing hunger, fearing sickness,” Gutierrez said angrily. “Shame on us for wearing our badge of Christianity during Christmas and allow the secretary to come here and lie.”

Nielsen responded: "Calling me a liar are fighting words. I'm not a liar. We've never had a policy for family separation."

Later, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) asked Nielsen if she was “aware” of a plethora of research indicating the likelihood that immigrants,are less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans — a fact that contradicts Trump's main argument to limit immigrantion and those seeking asylum.

“I have not seen those particular studies,” replied Nielsen.

“It’d be helpful if you start putting in some basic facts about the actual facts related to immigrants and crime,” Lieu replied.

Lieu cited a 2015 study by the nonpartisan Cato Institute titled “Immigration and Crime — What the Research Says.” It found that “roughly 1.6 percent of immigrant males 18–39 are incarcerated, compared to 3.3 percent of the native-born,” and concluded that “the weight of the evidence suggests that immigration is not associated with increased levels of crime. To the extent that a relationship does exist, research often finds a negative effect of immigration on levels of crime, in general, and on homicide in particular.”

Prior to the hearing, Rep. Judy Chu, D-CA, Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-WA, CAPAC Immigration Task Force Chair, led 53 Congress members in sending a letter to Nielsen demanding an end to the detention and deportation of Southeast Asian refugees and families.

“We are concerned that the recent retaliatory visa sanctions from the Trump Administration pressuring Cambodia and Laos to accept deported people have propelled these mass detentions and deportations. Additionally, we are also concerned that the Administration’s reinterpretation of the 2008 bilateral agreement between the United States and Vietnam will also lead to increased detentions and deportations of Vietnamese Americans,” said the letter.

“It is troubling to see Southeast Asian American families being targeted at unprecedented levels. We urge you to reexamine policies on the arbitrary detention and deportation of Southeast Asian Americans who prove no threat to public safety, are interwoven into our communities, and support U.S. citizen families. We urge you to use prosecutorial discretion to ensure that our finite resources are not being wasted to tear families apart and deport individuals who have transformed their lives after serving their sentences,” the letter "continued.

Further, we request that you set up a briefing on your discussions with Vietnam, in particular to provide information on any deal with Vietnam to accept deported refugees," said the Congress members.

The letter was sent days after 36 Cambodian Americans were deported to Cambodia from a detention center in Texas. Most of them had criminal records and served time behind bars for as minor an infraction ad a DUI.

"Upon arrival into the United States, many were resettled into struggling neighborhoods. Still coping with significant trauma from the war, some of these refugees made mistakes as teenagers and young adults and were funneled into the criminal justice system. All of them served their time, and the majority transformed their lives to become productive community members, business owners, and loving parents supporting their U.S citizen families," the letter explained.

Read the full letter below:

December 19, 2018

The Honorable Kirstjen M. Nielsen
Secretary
Department of Homeland Security
3801 Nebraska Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20528

Dear Secretary Nielsen:

We write to express our deep concern about the detention and deportation of Southeast Asian refugees from Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. In recent years, we have seen a spike in the arbitrary detention and removal of lawful permanent residents who came to the United States as refugees fleeing the violence and genocide from the Vietnam War and the Khmer Rouge genocide. We urge you to cease detentions and deportations of refugees from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

Many of those impacted were born in refugee camps and have never set foot in the countries to which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is trying to remove them. Upon arrival into the United States, many were resettled into struggling neighborhoods. Still coping with significant trauma from the war, some of these refugees made mistakes as teenagers and young adults and were funneled into the criminal justice system. All of them served their time, and the majority transformed their lives to become productive community members, business owners, and loving parents supporting their U.S citizen families. They have checked in dutifully with ICE, some for decades, only now to be suddenly arrested, detained, and deported.

We are concerned that the recent retaliatory visa sanctions from the Trump Administration pressuring Cambodia and Laos to accept deported people have propelled these mass detentions and deportations. Additionally, we are also concerned that the Administration’s reinterpretation of the 2008 bilateral agreement between the United States and Vietnam will also lead to increased detentions and deportations of Vietnamese Americans.[1] The biggest round up of Cambodian and Vietnamese immigrants for deportation took place in 2017.[2]Cambodia is currently on target to see record-breaking deportation numbers in 2018.[3]

It is troubling to see Southeast Asian American families being targeted at unprecedented levels. We urge you to reexamine policies on the arbitrary detention and deportation of Southeast Asian Americans who prove no threat to public safety, are interwoven into our communities, and support U.S. citizen families. We urge you to use prosecutorial discretion to ensure that our finite resources are not being wasted to tear families apart and deport individuals who have transformed their lives after serving their sentences. Further, we request that you set up a briefing on your discussions with Vietnam, in particular to provide information on any deal with Vietnam to accept deported refugees.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. Please contact [our staff] to set up a briefing to address these questions no later than December 27, 2018.

Sincerely,
(sgd) 53 Members of the House of Representatives
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Infants and toddlers taken from their parents found; senators call for Nielsen's resignatoin

YESTERDAY, the question was asked: where are the babies and toddlers who have been separated from their parents as their families entered the United States.

They have been found. The Associated Press reported today (June 19) that those babies and other young children are being sent to three "tender age" shelters in South Texas. 

Medical personnel and attorneys who have visited these sites described rooms full of crying preschool-age children.

Children who have been separated from their parents or guardians can suffer irrevocable, long-term trauma even from a short-term separation from their parents, says Dr. Colleen Kraft, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

She recalls one girl crying hysterically on the mats in the middle of the room.

“The staff were by her, but they weren't allowed to hold her, comfort her,” Kraft says. “So she was just crying and wailing. Her little arms and legs were just pounding, and she was inconsolable. And we all knew why. We knew that she had been taken from her mother, and she wanted her mother.”

"What happens is that overall, this toxic stress really robs these children of the ability to love and to learn and to do well in school and to graduate from high school and to go on to college and to be successful," Kraft says. "And later on in life, it robs them of their capacity to be healthy grown adults."

Since the Trump admnistration launched its zero-tolerance policy against immigrant families coming over the U.S.-Mexico border in May, about 2,300 youngsters have been separated from their parents, most of whom have come to the U.S. to ask for asylum, a legal and internationally recognized process -- not to enter the country illegally.

Senators Mazie Hirono and Kamala Harris have asked for the resignation of  Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen for carrying out the policy.

"I called on Kirstjen Nielsen to resign as Secretary of Homeland Security for a lack of transparency and for implementing a policy of separating thousands of children from parents along our southern border," said Harris to the senator's supporters.

"Her numerous misleading statements, including denying yesterday that the government had a policy of separating children from their families at the border, are disqualifying.

"She has lost the trust of the American people and must resign -- and I am asking you to add your voice alongside mine in this fight." she said.

"These are not normal times, because we have a president who lies every single day and he expects the people around him -- he thrusts them forward as he did with Kirstjen Nielsen yesterday to lie for him," Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-HI, told reporters. 

"So, I have said that everything around him who have basically sold their souls to keep their jobs and lie for the President, I would welcome their resignations. She lied yesterday for the President."

The AP story reported that the doctors and lawyers who have visited the shelters said the facilities were fine, clean and safe, but the kids — who have no idea where their parents are — were hysterical, crying and acting out.

“The shelters aren’t the problem, it’s taking kids from their parents that’s the problem,” said South Texas pediatrician Marsha Griffin who has visited the shelters.

"Let me be clear: our government should be in the business of keeping families together, not tearing them apart," said Harris.

"And despite what this Administration is saying, there is no law forcing them to cruelly separate children from their families."

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