CACF Statement on Public Charge's Impact in New York City

NEW YORK (September 19, 2022) --On Thursday September 8th, the Biden administration issued a new final rule on public charge that is closely aligned with the 1999 Interim Field Guidance and provides further clarification of this guidance.  “The Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF) commends the decision to codify a rule that does not penalize immigrants for accessing non-cash public benefits. And we are proud to have advocated alongside our coalition members and allies, as part of the Protecting Immigrant Families (PIF) campaign, to ensure that this new rule is beneficial to immigrant communities. While we ultimately believe that the concept of public charge as a whole is still not in the best interest of our immigrant communities, we see the publication of this new final rule as a step in the right direction,” state Anita Gundanna and Vanessa Leung, Co-Executive Directors of CACF.

Still, many in the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community continue to have confusion around the current state of public charge, directly impacting their access to vital services. CACF continues to work with New York City and New York State to ensure access to in-language, culturally responsive information critical to community health and well-being, especially to those most hard-to-reach. 

CACF is committed to shed light on the needs of marginalized communities. Take a look at CACF’s recent report highlighting our community-based research on the harms of public charge.  Key findings from the research, conducted in collaboration with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) include:

• Nearly 80% of participants reported that they had clients who didn’t apply for benefits such as food or housing subsidies, because they feared being disqualified from obtaining a green card.

• Over 60% of participants reported having clients who avoided or delayed care when ill. Of these clients, 3 in 5 avoided or delayed care specifically because they feared that accessing free care would label them as a ‘public charge.’

In July 2022, CACF hosted a virtual information session for community organizations on public charge, which included:

• A presentation by DOHMH on the history of public charge policy and important upcoming changes to the public charge rule,

• A presentation by CACF on the findings from the aforementioned community-based research,

• And a panel discussion with community speakers from the Arab-American Family Support Center, Make the Road New York, and the South Asian Council for Social Services. 

CACF remains committed to ensuring that immigrant communities, including the AAPI community, have equitable access to services so that all can be safe, healthy, and able to reach their full potential in life, and looks forward to working closely with allies and partners to achieve this goal.

To learn more about the new final rule on public charge, please read this new fact sheet published by the Protecting Immigration Families (PIF) coalition here.

For more information, contact Amy Lin, Health Partnerships Policy Coordinator at alin@cacf.org.