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ASC Lauds NYC Mayor’s Guarantee of Comprehensive Health Care for All

New NYC Care Plan a Major Step Forward in Health Equity & Immigrant Rights

African Services Committee (ASC) applauds Mayor Bill de Blasio’s announcement to guarantee comprehensive health care to all New York City residents regardless of ability to pay or immigration status. Beginning in the Bronx in June, with rollout to the other boroughs completed by 2021, the NYC Care plan is a landmark initiative, contributing to universal health care coverage in New York City and is a welcome rebuttal to the Federal administration’s unrelenting assault on immigrant communities.

“Mayor de Blasio’s announcement that the new plan will include health coverage for undocumented City residents is a bold, essential step toward health equity and immigrant rights in New York City,” says ASC’s Director of Advocacy, Amanda Lugg.

‘Public Charge’ Proposed Rule Devastating to Immigrants & Families

Threatens to Imperil Public Health Initiatives

New York, New York 10/10/2018 — African Services Committee condemns in the strongest possible terms the administration’s proposed revision to the “public charge” rule, and stands in solidarity with immigrant families and their allies across the country against any expansion of the “public charge” provisions.

When applying for permanent residency or “green card,” U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) must determine whether an immigrant is likely to become a public charge. The administration is proposing to dramatically expand the types of public benefits which USCIS may consider in its determination regarding whether someone is likely to become a public charge and therefore ineligible for permanent residency.

ASC /ICLC Attorneys Assist Detainees at Remote ICE Detention Facility

As the current administration continues its assault on immigrants, detention centers are over capacity and asylum seekers are being sent to remote detention centers around the U.S. Places where there are no attorneys who can help them. They have no rights and they are treated as less than human. ASC and ICLC attorneys recently went the extra mile, literally, by traveling to provide pro bono legal counsel to help these asylum seekers.

OpEd: 'Public Charge' Rule Could Be Devastating to HIV-Positive Immigrants

By ASC Advocacy Director Amanda Lugg for TheBody.com

Just when you thought it couldn't get much worse for immigrants, it could get much worse for immigrants.

In late 2017, the Trump administration announced its intention to impose harsher rules for determining when immigrants are considered a "public charge" -- a legal determination that can block an individual's path to permanent residency (i.e., obtaining a green card).

Under U.S. immigration law, a person seeking a green card through a family relationship must show that they "are not likely to become a public charge," which under current law is someone who is unable to support themselves and thus likely to depend on government benefits for income. Historically, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has only excluded applicants based on continuous receipt of cash benefits or long-term institutionalization at government expense, so as not to "inhibit access to non-cash benefits that serve important public interests."

Click here to read the full article.

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News and Updates

Sessions Closes Major Path for Asylum Seekers

ICLC Attorney Featured In The New York Times

“The threats from her boyfriend came daily, fear having no respite, Blanca said. If she were to leave him, he told her from his jail cell, he would torture her, cut her into pieces and leave her to die. He was a member of the 18th Street gang in Honduras, and they did these sorts of things. She tried to resist. Then he threw her against a wall when she visited him in jail, the police nowhere to be found. When his fellow gang member later raped and impregnated her, and then another threatened to kill her, she finally fled to the United States in 2013.”

- as reported here in the New York Times, ASC's Immigrant Community Law Center (ICLC) is representing Blanca, whose domestic violence and gang based-claim for asylum is now in jeopardy because of a decision Attorney General Sessions issued, which strips protection from those who need it most -- asylum seekers. Read the full New York Times Story here.