By Sara Albanna
ACTION ITEM BELOW!
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, “Affidavit of Support on Behalf of Immigrants” was published in the Federal Register on October 2, 2020. This proposed rule is yet another attack by the Trump administration to dismantle all types of immigration, and specifically target Black and Brown immigrants. If finalized, this rule will deter U.S. citizens and green card holders from sponsoring their family members in immigration applications, thus further limiting legal family-based immigration.
This rule will require primary sponsors to:
- Find a joint sponsor if they or a member of their household member have used public benefits — including Medicaid, CHIP, SNAP, SSI and TANF — anytime within 3 years of executing the Affidavit of Support
- Provide their bank account information
- Provide their credit history
- Provide their last three years of federal income tax returns rather than only their past year’s return
All of this additional documentation is invasive, cumbersome, and not reflective of an individual’s ability to sponsor a family member at the time of application. Moreover, due to longstanding, systemic race-based inequalities, this proposed rule would disproportionately target low-income Black and Brown families and sponsors. No part of this proposed rule is justifiable or necessary, and would only increase the immigration application backlog at USCIS. As such, the Children’s Defense Fund of Texas strongly opposes this rule and urges that it be withdrawn in its entirety. Instead, USCIS should dedicate their efforts to expand and streamline legal immigration processes.
TAKE ACTION! Because this rule is not yet finalized, you can impact the outcome by adding comments and encouraging others to add comments to the Federal Registrar by November 2, 2020, at 11pm CT. DHS has to review all comments individually before finalizing the rule, so the more comments the better. Click here to submit a comment.
Read our full public comment here.
Click here to submit a comment of your own.
Read the full proposed rule here.