BOISE, Idaho -- A change to how public-assistance programs weigh on a person's citizenship application is shaking Idaho's immigrant community.

What's known as the "public charge rule" will allow the Department of Homeland Security to penalize potential citizens for their use of public benefits such as Medicaid and food assistance. It even could factor into denying them citizenship. After a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month, the new regulation will go into effect Feb. 24, but Sam Byrd, executive director of Idaho's Centro de Comunidad y Justicia, said the rule sowed fear as soon as it was floated in 2018.

"The impact on the community was instant," he said. "In other words, it isn't happening now as a result of what has been passed - it happened when it was proposed."

Byrd said some people have given up the benefits they qualify for because of the new rule, noting that about 18,000 U.S. citizens have left the Children's Health Insurance Program since the announcement. The Trump administration has said it's protecting taxpayers and wants to ensure that people applying for citizenship are self-sufficient.

Byrd said fear of the public charge rule has put his organization and others that provide community services for immigrants in a tough position. He said Comunidad y Justicia is focusing on two priorities; The first is letting people who are eligible know that they can continue using these programs.

"The other one," he said, "is that we have to look at, OK, what other alternatives are we going to have at the community level to be able to respond to those children and those family members that are going to get sick and that are not going to seek help?"

Of about 540,000 people who apply for green cards in the United States each year, roughly 380,000 could be subject to review under this change, according to research by the Associated Press.


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Immigration advocacy groups are calling on New Yorkers to join them in Foley Square at noon today. It's a National Day of Action to call attention to what they're calling a "cruel" immigration system.

People in roughly a dozen cities across the country are asking the Biden administration to follow through on promises to close immigration detention centers and put an end to deportations. Catherine Barnett, co-director of the New York group Freedom to Thrive, said this will be an opportunity to hear from people who are directly impacted by the immigration system.

"Folks who have been held in detention, families who have loved ones who have been in detention," she said. "There's opportunity to provide for family reunification and mental-health services - for people to be able to participate in a way that they're not able to do when they are being locked away."

In New York, Barnett said, an Assembly bill known as the Dignity Not Detention Act is currently in committee. It is similar to one passed in New Jersey, which led to detention facilities being closed. It would allow for people to wait for the decision on their immigration status without being locked up.

Barnett said there's a lot of misinformation about the immigration system. She added that many people even believe the current process is working.

"Some locations feel like there's an economic benefit to keeping people in cages, because you're providing jobs in particular parts of the state," she said. "We need to think about different ways we can provide economic incentives, economic support for individuals and communities, that are not relying on us expressing the worst of our humanity."

Barnett said her hope for the rally and the National Day of Action is to raise awareness, and move toward creating systems that prioritize the health and well-being of all people.

Organizations that help immigrants find a community, achieve economic self-sufficiency, and become legal residents or citizens say anti-immigrant rhetoric has created a funding challenge. Financial donations are down in Texas - which has bused more than 20,000 migrants to unprepared cities. Lawmakers have considered legislation to create a state border police task force empowered to "repel" and arrest migrants.

Tania Chavez Camacho, executive director, La Unión Del Pueblo Entero, or LUPE, said a lack of funding impacts direct services they can provide.

"We need the funding to be flexible because oftentimes we might need to house families, we might need to feed families, we might need to fly families," she explained.

Nationwide, the funding average for pro-immigrant and pro-refugee groups is $7, compared with $3.50 in Texas, according to the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. Texas immigrants account for 1/6 of the state's total population.

Cairo Mendes is with the group Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees. He says philanthropic donations are needed to meet and match public dollars and support the work done for migrants and immigrants by non-traditional groups.

"The small grassroots organizations that just don't have the sort-of infrastructure to be doing the development work day in and day out but are really connected to community and have access to these individuals," Mendes explained.

A "mobile app" created by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency to help schedule immigration court hearings is well-intentioned, Chavez Camacho said, but she noted it is not always practical.

"They are asking people to sign up for an appointment via an app - when they're literally running for their lives - seems not OK. Absolutely not OK," Chavez Camacho continued.

Legal permanent and temporary immigration rose in 2022 after the COVID-19 public-health crisis abated and the Biden administration extended or expanded "Temporary Protected Status" for certain eligible U.S. immigrants.

A New York immigrants' rights organization has created a membership group to develop solutions for better treatment of immigrants arriving in the state.

Composed of immigrants, Envision Freedom Fund's new group hopes to provide a better understanding of immigrant needs. The program was created out of a desire by previously detained immigrants who want to help those who are now going through the detention process.

Anacristina Fonseca, community engagement coordinator for the Envision Freedom Fund, described how the program has evolved.

"We started meeting regularly on Zoom and from there, it kind of naturally turned into more organizing work," Fonseca recounted. "People being interested in advocacy work, and doing things like going to Albany to lobby."

She added the group's shared experiences include being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and dealing with the sometimes abusive experience of posting immigration bonds. Last year, New York lawmakers passed the Stop Immigrant Bond Abuse Act, which regulates the companies providing immigration bonds. The law prohibits them from using electronic ankle monitors, and caps interest and fees on these bonds.

Carl Hamad-Lipscombe, executive director of the Envision Freedom Fund, said feedback about the program has been positive thus far, who hopes the group's recommendations will not only improve U.S. immigration policies, but the services Envisions Freedom Fund offers.

"One of the things that they highlighted for us very early on is the need for more mental health services for recently arrived immigrants that have just gone through, really, what's probably the most traumatic experience of their lives, migrating," Hamad-Lipscombe explained. "Based on their feedback, we've increased our resources and our referrals in that area."

One of the biggest challenges has been those who run the group are immigrants themselves, dealing simultaneously with their own immigration cases. In the future, Hamad-Lipscombe said they will establish a set of principles and values for the program to uphold.