The 2016 Presidential Election, the Public Charge Rule, and Food and Nutrition Assistance Among Immigrant Households

Abstract

Objectives. To investigate whether the 2016 US presidential election and the subsequent leak of a proposed change to the public charge rule reduced immigrant families’ participation in food and nutrition assistance programs. Methods. We used nationally representative data on n = 57 808 households in the United States from the 2015–2018 Current Population Survey–Food Security Supplement. We implemented difference-in-difference-in-difference analyses to investigate whether the election and proposed rule change produced decreases in immigrant families’ participation in food and nutrition assistance programs and whether such decreases varied according to state policy generosity toward immigrants. Results. Findings indicate significant and large decreases in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, School Breakfast Program, and National School Lunch Program participation among immigrants in moderately generous states but no changes to receipt of food assistance from nongovernmental sources or to household food insecurity. Conclusions. Both anti-immigrant rhetoric and the perceived threat of policy enactment can be enough to produce chilling effects that have potentially serious implications for the health of immigrant households and thus the health of the nation. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(12):1738–1746. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2022.307011 )

Household Social Needs, Emotional Functioning, and Stress in Low-Income Latinx Children and their Mothers

“…While we did not have information about participants' immigration status, it is plausible that immigration influenced the study's urban, predominantly Spanishpreferring population. Threats of impending changes to policies affecting or affected by immigration status that occurred during the HASII study's enrollment period, such as those expected to the "public charge rule," negatively impacted enrollment in public assistance programs, including immigrant communities' enrollment in Medicaid (Bustamante et al, 2022;Miller et al, 2022;Wang et al, 2022). It is possible that fear associated with the public charge rule or other programse.g.…”

Reduced health care utilization among young children of immigrants after Donald Trump's election and proposed public charge rule

“… 15 , 26 , 50 , 60 Other studies examining Trump's candidacy declaration and early rhetoric found a similar relationship with declining adult and child health care utilization and public-assistance enrollment among immigrant and mixed-status families in SNAP, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), school meals, and Medicaid. 8 , 15 , 16 , 18 , 19 It is in our national interest for all children and their families to be able to meet their basic needs, including for health care. Thus, it is important for candidates for public office, executive branch, legislative, health systems, and public health leaders to be mindful of the far-reaching physical and mental health consequences of the language and policy proposals our leaders choose to emphasize as well as the implementation of restrictive laws and policies.…”