NLIHC joined 22 other housing, nutrition, and health advocacy organizations in signing on to five identical amicus briefs supporting a lawsuit brought by La Clinica de La Raza and their partners against President Trump, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Department of Homeland Security to block implementation of the Public Charge rule (see Memo, 8/19).
The plaintiffs – represented by the National Immigration Law Center, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles, the National Health Law Program, and the Western Center on Law and Poverty – filed suit on August 16. The filing contends the Public Charge rule is motivated by racial bias and argues that the rule’s disparate impact on immigrant communities of color violates the Fifth Amendment’s Equal Protection clause.
Lead authors of the amicus briefs are the National Housing Law Project, Center for Law and Social Policy, and Food Research & Action Center. NLIHC signed onto the amicus briefs, citing the Public Charge rule’s impact on immigrant families’ housing stability and the far-reaching consequences of losing access to affordable, accessible housing, including increasing the risk of homelessness.
The amicus briefs argue the Public Charge rule arbitrarily targets immigrant families based on the unfounded assumption that immigrants receiving benefits do not actively contribute to their communities. The briefs note that public benefits are crucial to promoting self-sufficiency and economic mobility. The briefs further assert that the Public Charge rule will exert a “chilling effect” on immigrant families, discouraging even eligible families from applying for and receiving benefits to which they are entitled. The plaintiffs also note that implementation of the Public Charge rule will greatly increase the administrative burden for public housing agencies and other affordable housing providers.
Read the amicus brief at: https://bit.ly/2mlgOq1
Read the Notice of Motion at: https://bit.ly/2klSKmg
Learn more about the lawsuit at: https://bit.ly/2NdetJ9