FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Dec. 19, 2025
CONTACT: Jack Cardinal, jcardinal@communitycatalyst.org 

“This proposal increases fear, worsens health outcomes, and should be withdrawn.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — National health justice organization Community Catalyst — a steering committee member of the Protecting Immigrant Families Coalition — today submitted public comments opposing the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) proposed changes to “public charge,” which would roll back existing protections without replacing them.

This proposal is intended to create confusion and fear for immigrant families — and that fear has consequences. When families worry that getting help could put their immigration status at risk, they may avoid health coverage, nutrition support, and other basic services that they are both entitled to and keep communities healthy. DHS has acknowledged that this kind of chilling effect can worsen health outcomes, increase emergency room use, raise uncompensated care, and deepen poverty and housing instability.  

Michelle Sternthal, PhD, Interim Senior Director of Policy and Strategy, Community Catalyst, said:

“DHS should withdraw this proposal. The rule uses confusion as a weapon. Policies that increase fear and confusion keep people from accessing care they qualify for, make communities sicker, and push costs onto our health care system and communities. We urge DHS to keep the current protections in place and commit to a transparent public process for any future changes.

“When people can get preventive care, manage chronic conditions, and support their families, it strengthens public health and creates more stability for all of us. Community Catalyst will continue working with immigrant justice partners to oppose harmful public charge policies and advance fairness, dignity, and health for every community.”

Community Catalyst also called on DHS to provide a meaningful public comment period for changes of this magnitude and to make any future guidance or tools available for public review and input.

Background: What the DHS proposal itself acknowledges

In the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, DHS acknowledges that rescinding the current public charge protections — without replacement — is likely to cause widespread harm, including:

  • Worse health outcomes, such as increased malnutrition (especially among pregnant people, infants, and children), reduced prescription adherence, and greater reliance on emergency rooms due to delayed care.
  • Higher rates of communicable disease, including among U.S. citizens, driven by reduced access to preventive care and vaccinations.
  • Rising uncompensated care, shifting costs onto hospitals, states and taxpayers.
  • Increased poverty and housing instability, reduced productivity, and lower educational attainment.

Research cited in Community Catalyst’s comments shows these impacts would fall disproportionately on U.S. citizen children and mixed-status families, despite many being fully eligible for benefits. Past public charge policies produced lasting “chilling effects,” with families avoiding health care and nutrition support even when not subject to the rule — effects that persisted years after earlier policies were reversed.

Community Catalyst urges DHS to withdraw the proposal and retain the 2022 public charge protections, which reflect long-standing law and provide clear guidance to families, service providers, and immigration officers.

Community Catalyst’s opposition to the proposed public charge changes is grounded in years of research and direct engagement with immigrant communities. In 2022, Community Catalyst partnered with national and state organizations across Florida, Kansas, New Jersey, and Texas to examine how fear and misinformation stemming from past public charge policies discouraged Latinx immigrant families from accessing health coverage and other essential support they were eligible to receive. Stakeholder interviews consistently showed that uncertainty — rather than eligibility rules themselves — was one of the greatest barriers to care.

That work found that rebuilding trust requires clear rules, consistent messaging, and culturally competent outreach over time. The current proposal moves in the opposite direction, reintroducing ambiguity that risks undoing progress made since the 2022 public charge protections were put in place.

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About Community Catalyst:

Community Catalyst is a leading non-profit national health advocacy organization dedicated to advancing a movement for race equity and health justice. We partner with local, state and national advocates to leverage and build power so all people can influence decisions that affect their health. Health systems will not be accountable to people without a fully engaged and organized community voice. That’s why we work every day to ensure people’s interests are represented wherever important decisions about health and health care are made: in communities, state houses and on Capitol Hill. For more information, visit www.communitycatalyst.org.