ABOUT US
The Protecting Immigrant Families Coalition brings together leading advocates for immigrants, children, education, health, anti-hunger, anti-poverty groups, and faith leaders lay the foundation for a future where everyone has access to the respect and care that they need, regardless of who they are or where they were born.
Our Vision: A nation where all are truly equal, immigration is recognized as a strength, and no one in America is denied the essentials of life because of where they were born.
Our Purpose: Unite to protect and defend access to health care, nutrition programs, public services, and economic supports for immigrants and their families at the local, state, and federal level
Our Impact: Read about our 2022 impact here.
Our Origins
The PIF Coalition began in May 2017 with a meeting of two dozen national, state, and local organizations committed to protecting immigrants and their families’ access to health care, nutrition programs, public services and economic support. Less than 5 years later, the PIF Coalition has grown to more than 500 partner organizations across immigrant rights, civil rights, health, nutrition, anti-poverty, early childhood, education, faith-based, and other sectors. Throughout the Trump Administration, PIF fought back against a pattern of attacks on low-income immigrant families.
A New Era: What Comes Next for PIF
Following the 2020 Presidential Election, we now find ourselves working under a new Administration for the first time in our coalition’s history. In 2021, we saw the beginning of the end of the Trump-era public charge regulations.
On February 2, 2021, President Biden released an Executive Order (EO) that began the administrative process of reversing the Trump Administration’s public charge regulations. The EO came just weeks after 500 nonprofit organizations affiliated with the Protecting Immigrant Families coalition sent a letter urging the President to act quickly in dismantling the wealth test created by the last Administration.
We are now advocating for a public charge policy that prevents abuses like we saw under Trump and secures access to programs that help immigrant families live healthy and fulfilling lives. On April 25, 2022, the PIF coalition submitted a comment on the Biden Administration’s public charge proposal signed by 1,070 organizations. Importantly, the comment’s signatories included a diverse set of national organizations and organizations from every state and Washington DC, signaling to the Administration that they can count on a broad base of support in communicating the final public charge regulation to immigrant communities. As we did in 2018 and over the years, the PIF Coalition came together to show our collective power and unity. The Coalition submitted a strong sign-on comment outlining our recommendations and expectations to the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS).
We know that the work must continue, and we have a clear vision for what lies ahead.
