Published December 5, 2025
Millions of people in the U.S., including over 18 million children, are living in a state of fear and chaos perpetuated by the Trump administration, which has enacted a number of policies and practices explicitly designed to scare immigrants from accessing the limited benefits available to them. This includes restricting access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for humanitarian-based non-citizens in HR 1.
The chilling effect is further intensified by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) efforts to obtain taxpayer information from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and to access benefit data from the Social Security Administration and state SNAP and Medicaid agencies. These efforts violate federal privacy protections and break explicit commitments that the government has made to beneficiaries. These policies also place mixed-status families, many of which include U.S. citizen children and adults, in a climate of fear, causing even citizens to avoid critical supports out of concern for the safety and stability of their loved ones.
Together, these measures will deepen economic hardship, destabilize family well-being, and increase food insecurity for immigrant and U.S. citizen households alike.
Public Charge Proposed Rule
The administration just took another step to create fear in immigrant communities. On November 19, DHS issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that, if enacted, would rescind a rule put in place in 2022 that defines what could be considered in making a public charge determination for people seeking a U.S. green card or visa.
What Is Public Charge?
When someone applies for a green card or a visa, either to adjust their status within the U.S. or to enter the country, a government official reviews their application to determine whether they are likely to rely on the government for support. Under long-standing law and the current 2022 rule, only cash assistance for income maintenance and long-term institutionalized care at the government’s expense could be considered in determining if someone could be considered a public charge. This proposed rule would rescind those regulations without any new guidance in its place. This vacuum creates confusion over what programs or benefits could be considered in the determination, meaning that, if enacted, the officials reviewing the applications could consider any programs as cause to deny someone a green card or visa.
The goal of this proposed rule is to not only change this policy but to create more confusion, fear, and barriers for immigrant families to have essential supports.
Making up 27 percent of the population in the U.S., immigrant families are a large part of our communities, and half of their households include a U.S. citizen. As of 2023, one in four U.S. citizen children live with a foreign-born parent. Policies, actions, and proposed rules such as this one will only lead to more hunger and increased poverty.
Take Action
To help combat this rule, organizations and individuals can submit comments to the Federal Register by December 19. Agencies, such as the DHS, are required to consider comments and respond adequately to relevant comments in the final rule. FRAC will soon have a sample comment template you can use to create your own unique comment. In addition, our friends at the Protecting Immigrant Families Coalition (PIF) also have a number of resources to help you take action against this proposed rule.