The true purpose of the “public charge” rule is to discourage immigrant parents from seeking basic assistance for their U.S. citizen children–even if they legally qualify for help–and to give bureaucratic officials another tool to deny immigration applications and deport immigrants.
Writing in the Washington Post, attorney Christopher Richardson pointed out that our nation has used this tactic before, in chapters of history we vowed to never repeat:
Despite the rise of Hitler and anti-Jewish sentiment in Europe, State Department leaders directed consular officers to use the public-charge provision to bar Jewish refugees. Even after the State Department belatedly abandoned using the law to target Jewish refugees, they continued using it decades after to bar gay men, lesbians and the disabled from getting visas.
Digging into history even further, Emma Lazarus scholar and professor of American Jewish studies Esther Schor wrote in The New York Times:
Ms. Lazarus not only insisted that American Jews come to the aid of Jewish refugees; two years later, she wrote “The New Colossus” to argue that aiding the poor and oppressed of all lands was the mission of all Americans, the mission of America itself.
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) President and CEO Krish O’Mara Vignarajah pointed out that the new rule “is not just un-American, it’s downright hostile to the Bible,” in the Baltimore Sun:
[The Bible] includes more than 2,000 references to poverty and how Christians are to live out God’s love for those who are less fortunate. People of all faiths have decried this heartless policy and sought to remind our leaders of Jesus’ words: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
In Newsweek Nermeen Arastu, clinical professor of law, added:
America’s immigration history is a continuum of such discriminatory policies of exclusion, enacted in the name of economic prosperity, national security and public safety: African Americans, women and Native populations were once not included as citizens; immigration quotas have heavily favored Northern and Western Europeans; a whole continent of people was banned under the Asian Exclusion Act; and now an entire religious community is being barred with a Muslim ban.
But at every turn, time unveiled these policies and laws for what they were: proxies for racism and xenophobia.
And the editors of America Magazine: The Jesuit Review, concluded:
The Trump administration’s immigration policies consistently betray not only a profound misunderstanding of what drives the tired and poor to our shores and borders but what they long for—and have historically achieved—when they arrive. It also trades on hostility to public benefits, falsely portraying them as a handout for the undeserving rather than recognizing them as forms of solidarity that ultimately strengthen the social fabric of the country.
Faith leaders and moral Americans across the country agree. Quotes from Interfaith Immigration Coalition members about this new policy are available here.
The Interfaith Immigration Coalition is made up of 53 national, faith-based organizations brought together across many theological traditions with a common call to seek just policies that lift up the God-given dignity of every individual. In partnership, we work to protect the rights, dignity, and safety of all refugees and migrants.
Follow us on Twitter @interfaithimm
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