Press Releases
03/06/2020
Attorney General Tong Calls for Suspension of Public Charge Rule During COVID-19 Outbreak
(Hartford, CT) -- Attorney General William Tong joined a coalition of 18 attorneys general urging the Trump Administration to suspend the Public Charge rule in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. In a letter today to the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the attorneys general criticize the Administration for discouraging access to health care during a public health crisis.
The Public Charge rule allows the federal government to deny green cards and visas to immigrants who are deemed likely to use government assistance programs, including health care programs like Medicaid. The rule is a scheme to deter legal immigrants and their families from seeking access to the medical care, healthy food and safe housing they are lawfully entitled to.
Connecticut is part of a multistate coalition actively participating in a legal challenge to the rule, which went into effect nationwide last month after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a temporary injunction blocking implementation. Nearly 200,000 Connecticut residents are now in danger of losing access to services like food assistance, Medicaid, and Section 8 housing vouchers.
“In the midst of a public health crisis, the last thing we should be doing is discouraging people from seeking medical care. Now is not the time for divisive and discriminatory policies designed to foment fear and marginalize vulnerable communities. I strongly urge the Trump Administration to immediately suspend the Public Charge rule and divert their attention to ensuring that every person has access to the medical care we need to fight this outbreak together,” said Attorney General Tong.
“DHS received warnings of the potentially devastating effects of the Rule if its implementation were to coincide with the outbreak of a highly communicable disease – a scenario exactly like the one confronting our communities with the COVID-19 public health emergency,” the letter reads. “Your agency completely failed to consider such legitimate concerns.”
“DHS’s implementation of the Public Charge Rule during this public health crisis is irresponsible and reckless,” the letter continues. “DHS openly concedes the Rule could lead to ‘increased prevalence of communicable diseases,’ disenrollment from public programs, and increased use of emergency rooms as a primary method of health care.”
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