Letter: Change punishes legal immigrants in need

Community Health Partnership CEO, Dolores Alvarado, knows that health advocacy doesn’t take weekends off, so neither does she! If you had a chance to check out Sunday’s edition of The Mercury News you may have read her letter to the editor regarding changes to the Public Charge rules and the effects it has on our immigrant communities. It reads:

Re: “As new Trump policy looms, fewer Bay Area immigrant families are signing up for public benefits” (Mercurynews.com, Nov. 26): The president’s latest attack on immigrants once again hits home. The proposed change to “public charge” rules is another attempt to marginalize our immigrant communities.

We are a land of inclusion and thus welcome and support all immigrants. Now, this administration wants to punish legal immigrants who need a bit of help to support their families and achieve a better life.

Holding green cards hostage from those who accept modest and basic food, health and housing assistance pits one class of immigrant against another, pushing families deeper into poverty. It heaps more trauma on an already vulnerable community. In isolation this proposal is bad. Yet it lands amid the avalanche of attacks on women’s health, family separation and voter suppression. Enough is enough! We must mount a strong defense against changes to public charge rules by submitting comments through the Federal Register by the December 10th deadline.

— Dolores Alvarado, San Jose