Executive Summary
NHeLP attorney Madeline Morcelle published an op-ed with Rewire News Group on how the Trump-era public charge rule harms immigrants. Grounded in her past work as a community lawyer for Indigenous Guatemalan immigrant communities in Mississippi, it unpacks how the rule obstructs access to vital health care services and perpetuates reproductive injustice.
Update: The Biden administration has ended the Trump-era public charge rule and restored the long-standing 1999 Field Guidance as the standing public charge policy. The administration has significant work ahead to address the rule’s chilling effect on immigrants’ use of public benefits such as Medicaid, including rebuilding trust with immigrant communities.
