650+ Organizations Urge Congress to Reject Safety Net Cuts Targeting Immigrant Families

WASHINGTON — Nearly 700 organizations sent a letter to Capitol Hill Tuesday, urging lawmakers to reject efforts to restrict immigrant families’ access to health care and social services. The letter, coordinated by the Protecting Immigrant Families coalition (PIF) and two founding coalition members, the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) and the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), was co-signed by 681 organizations from 42 states and a diverse set of national organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Big Cities Health Coalition, Share Our Strength / No Kid Hungry, and Children's Defense Fund.

“The organizations helping families build better lives and stronger communities are united in opposing these dangerous attacks on immigrant families,” said PIF director Adriana Cadena. “Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have to ask themselves whether they’re on the side of the families and communities they serve, or whether they will join an attack on their own constituents to fund Trump’s agenda of tax cuts for the rich and family separation.”

As Congress prepares to debate budget legislation, extremist lawmakers have advanced a number of proposals that would shift resources away from health care and social services for U.S. citizens and their families and toward the Trump anti-immigrant family separation agenda. While the House and Senate have yet to reach an agreement, their draft budgets would both cut trillions over ten years, with a specific focus on slashing Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly “Food Stamps”), the Child Tax Credit, and other key anti-poverty initiatives.

Immigrant families account for 27% of the United States population, and one-fourth of all children in the country (almost all of whom are U.S. citizens) live in immigrant families. As a result, safety net cuts targeting immigrant families would have a huge impact. In addition, immigrants account for one-tenth of Black people in the U.S., one-third of Latine people, and nearly two-thirds of Asian-American and Pacific Islander people. As a result, while the conservative Cato Institute has confirmed that immigrants use safety net programs at lower rates, cuts that target immigrant families would widen racial inequities ranging from maternal mortality to economic opportunity.

“One in four children has an immigrant parent, and restricting safety net programs harms not only families with immigrants but the broader economy and public institutions,” the letter reads.

Congress is in the final stages of negotiation over the federal budget. Once a joint budget “resolution” has been adopted, debate is expected to begin on legislation to “reconcile” taxes and spending with that budget. Such “budget reconciliation” legislation is exempt from filibuster in the U.S. Senate, making it easier to pass legislation that might otherwise fail to garner the 60-vote supermajority required for other legislation.

“The Trump Administration's reckless crusade against immigrants doesn't just hurt immigrant children and families but harms all children and families while making the rich richer,” said Wendy Cervantes, Director of Immigration and Immigrant Families at the Center for Law and Social Policy. “Restricting immigrant families' access to Medicaid, SNAP, and other benefits is detrimental to the health and well-being of communities across the country and will negatively impact state budgets in both the near future and for years to come.”