skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Utahns Speak Out Against Proposed Immigration Rule

play audio
Play

Friday, October 12, 2018   

SALT LAKE CITY – Many Utahns are speaking out this week following a Trump administration proposal to broaden the factors that determine which legal immigrants can get green cards. The so-called "Public Charge" rule would allow the government to consider whether legal immigrants have used, or are likely to use, public-assistance programs such as food stamps, Medicaid or housing assistance, when making decisions about issuing green cards.

Gina Cornia, executive director with Utahns Against Hunger, worries the proposal would scare people from seeking assistance that their families qualify for, and need.

"Because then they'll think, 'Well, if I go on food stamps, I'm not going to be able to get my green card.' Or if they get benefits for their children, it's going to impact them; and it's just a very nuanced, very confusing policy," says Cornia.

The Department of Homeland Security says it wants to ensure immigrants are self-sufficient. But Cornia says it's a misconception that people who use public assistance don't work.

She says this policy would favor high-income people while punishing those who take on the low-wage jobs relied on by many new immigrants. A 60 day comment period on the proposal is now open.

Several Utah groups are speaking out, including Voices for Utah Children, the Utah Health Policy Project, and Comunidades Unidas.

Cornia says the policy targets an important community in the state.

"Particularly for Utah, we have been a state that really welcomes immigrants,” says Cornia. “And this proposed rule really will have a negative effect on people who are able to come here and call this place home, and I just don't believe that that is who we are."

The groups also are calling on Utah's state and congressional lawmakers to speak out against the proposal.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021