NILC Monitoring Public Charge Issues

IMMIGRATION LAW & POLICY

Public Charge

NILC monitoring public charge issues
Immigrants' Rights Update, Vol. 15, No. 4, June 29, 2001

The National Immigration Law Center is spearheading a project to monitor and document problems immigrants experience with public charge. Public charge is a term used in immigration law to describe persons who cannot support themselves and who are primarily dependent on the government for their subsistence. If the Immigration and Naturalization Service or the U.S. State Dept. consular offices abroad determine that a person is likely to become a public charge in the future, they can deny the person's application to immigrate to the U.S. or deny the person's reentry to the U.S. after a long stay abroad.

In May 1999, the INS issued a guidance clarifying that receipt of health care and other noncash benefits will not jeopardize the immigration status of immigrants and their families by putting them at risk of being considered a public charge. Nevertheless, abuses persist and rumors abound that INS officers and immigration judges continue to ask questions about public benefits and deny immigration relief because immigrants have received benefits. NILC is attempting to document such incidences. To that end, it is producing a monitoring form that may be filled out with information about incidents in which immigrants encountered public charge-related problems. The information will be held confidential unless the individual it concerns otherwise consents to its disclosure.

Watch for the monitoring form to be posted on NILC's website at www.nilc.org, or contact Sara Campos to obtain a copy: (email) campos@nilc.org; (address) NILC, 1212 Broadway, Suite 1400, Oakland, CA 94612; phone 510-663-8282 x. 304; fax 510-663-2028. If you currently have information about an incident involving a public charge problem, please contact Sara to share the information.