Trump/Pence Regime Targets Legal Immigrants...
Millions of Children Threatened!

October 8, 2018 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

On September 22, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a new front in the Trump/Pence regime’s war on immigrants. DHS is about to implement a new regulation that threatens to deny green cards—permanent legal residency—to hundreds of thousands of immigrants here lawfully, or eligible to come here. If this new rule is not stopped, any immigrant who has received, is receiving, or is likely to need any public benefits they are entitled to—such as food assistance, Medicaid, or low-cost housing—can be denied a green card and face possible deportation, or can be prevented from immigrating to this country. The rationale is that they are, or could be, a “public charge” and therefore not eligible for a green card. Previously, “public charge” referred only to those, such as pregnant women or unemployed parents, who are relying on government cash payments for more than half of their income.

Not only is this going to inject new fear among hundreds of thousands of low-income immigrants who have done nothing to be denied permanent residency and citizenship. It’s also going to bring great harm to millions of children.

Imagine you’re an immigrant parent living lawfully in this country. You want to apply for a green card so you and your two children, both born here and thus U.S. citizens, can stay together in this country. The job you’re working at, six days a week, barely pays enough to cover all your expenses, so you’ve been getting SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, formerly food stamps), to be sure you can provide nutritious meals for your children. Then the government implements their new rule. Think of the choice you face. Are you going to continue receiving the SNAP benefits for your children’s health, knowing this is enough for the government to deny your green card application and place you in deportation proceedings? Or do you withdraw your children from programs like SNAP in hopes that your green card application will not be denied—at the expense of your children’s health?

This deliberately cruel proposal is intended to deny basic supports like food, health care, and housing to immigrants and their families here lawfully and eligible for these programs who work, pay taxes, and go to school, but who are not paid enough to make ends meet. In fact, when the rumors of this new regulation were first in the air, families across the country began dropping out of these programs. A report by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that nearly 20 million children in immigrant families could be affected by these policy changes, even though nine in 10 of those children are U.S. citizens.

This rule could dramatically cut legal immigration from Mexico, Central America, and other oppressed countries. Right now family members of legal residents or citizens of this country are eligible to immigrate and get a green card. In fact, 40 percent of the immigrants to this country each year are family members. If this new rule goes into effect, huge numbers of these immigrants could be denied entry based on the DHS determining that their income is too low to assure that they won’t seek government assistance once here, from now forward, making annual income the principal factor for immigration. This, together with the vicious assaults on undocumented immigrants, is a crucial part of the Trump/Pence regime’s fascist promise to “Make America White Again.”

All of this escalating horror is “justified” by claiming these immigrants are taking advantage of America’s generosity. NO! It is your criminal system, exploiting people all over the world that is completely illegitimate. The people are coming from countries where U.S. capitalism-imperialism bitterly exploits the labor of the masses of people. When people forced out of their countries come here they are again ruthlessly exploited, forced into the lowest paying, most dangerous jobs, barely able to stay above water, while being essential to the profitability of this system as a whole. Bob Avakian spoke sharply to this reality in the first chapter of BAsics:

Now I can just hear these reactionary fools saying, “Well, Bob, answer me this. If this country is so terrible, why do people come here from all over the world? Why are so many people trying to get in, not get out?”...Why? I’ll tell you why. Because you have fucked up the rest of the world even worse than what you have done in this country. You have made it impossible for many people to live in their own countries as part of gaining your riches and power. (BAsics 1:14)

From the film of a talk by Bob Avakian, BA Speaks: REVOLUTION-NOTHING LESS!