Kudos to Baltimore for challenging rule to prohibit green cards to immigrants on public assistance

I applaud Baltimore and Gaithersburg for showing local leadership as covered in your story (“Baltimore, Gaithersburg sue Trump administration over ‘public charge’ rule limiting green cards, visas to immigrants on public assistance,” Sept 30).

Make no mistake, the public charge regulation is a litmus test to say that if you’re not wealthy and white, you are not welcome here. These policies are creating a chilling effect and dramatically impacting access to health care for immigrants and their children. We have heard from countless people who are afraid to seek health care and who struggle with deciding whether to keep their children in the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

We must fight fear with facts. None of us are better off when we create an environment in which immigrants are living in a constant state of fear and stress. We’re running out of time to protect immigrant families. We support these local efforts to stop the rule from going into effect, but we don’t know when the courts will make a decision, so we also urge Congress to act now and stop President Donald Trump’s reckless expansion of the public charge regulation.

Margie Del Castillo, Washington, D.C.

The writer is director of field and advocacy for the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health.

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