Letter to Protect Immigrant Families on COVID-19 Relief Bill
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Nationwide
The National Immigration Law Center and the Center on Law and Social Policy coordinated over 550 advocate organizations, including Philanthropy California, to sign a letter supporting a COVID-19 relief package that extends health care and economic support to all families, including immigrant families.
Provisions include:
- Halt implementation of the Department of Homeland Security and State Department public charge regulations.
- Ensure that access to health care is available regardless of a person’s immigration status, income, or categorical eligibility. These health services include testing and treating COVID 19 symptoms and related health conditions, and that the vaccines will be covered through Medicaid.
- Ensure access to the stimulus rebates for everyone who files tax returns, whether they use a Social Security Number or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number.
- Ensure access to nutrition assistance through programs like the Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP), and extend the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program through the summer of 2020.
- Ensure that health services and information about COVID-19 and accessing benefit programs are available in multiple languages and trusted community providers. Ensure that providers also have the resources they need to access interpretation services.
- Ensure adequate funding for safety-net health care providers, including those who serve immigrant, rural and low-income communities.
Background
The federal response to the COVID-19 crisis, including the Families First and the CARES Acts, left many low- and moderate-income immigrants out of the public health and stimulus policies. This exclusion threatens immigrants’ well-being, their families - which include millions of U.S. citizen children - and our communities as a whole. This omission will significantly undermine the nation’s ability to overcome this unprecedented crisis.