EL PASO, TEXAS — The United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island on Wednesday blocked Trump administration guidance restricting health care and social services access for people in immigrant families. The preliminary ruling by Hon. Mary McElroy was issued pursuant to a suit challenging the guidance by the State of New York and 19 other states, and it applies in those states. The judge cites the harm resulting to people in immigrant families under the policy, as well as the “the confusion and chaos imposed by an overnight change to a thirty-year-old interpretation of a law.”
The guidance, issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in July, denies lawfully present immigrants access to care at community health centers and substance abuse and mental health providers, early learning opportunities through Head Start, child abuse and prevention services, and other social services. In August, the Protecting Immigrant Families coalition (PIF) submitted a comment submitted – co-signed by 372 organizations – under the federal Administrative Procedure Act, opposing the policy change.
Responding to the order, PIF released the following statement by its Director, Adriana Cadena.
“Judge McElroy cut through the Trump administration’s spin, recognizing this policy for what it was – an attack on the nation’s health and wellbeing and an engine of chaos and confusion. Immigrant families account for 27% of the U.S. population, and you can’t deny basic care and help to that many people without doing real harm to the nation as a whole.”
