DHS Makes It Riskier for Some Immigrant Families to Get Their Kids Care

A child’s Medicaid or food aid can now factor into count against a family’s green card application.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has changed how it evaluates certain green card applications, creating new uncertainty for immigrant families. After September 18, 2026, DHS will make it easier for officers to deny green card (permanent residency) applications based on families’ use of public benefits.

As a result, many parents may fear that enrolling their children in Medicaid, food assistance, or other essential programs could jeopardize their family’s path to permanent residency, even if those services help meet their children’s basic needs.

As part of the green card application, immigration officers assess whether people are likely to become primarily dependent on government support, using information such as their receipt of public benefits. This is known as a public charge determination.

Until now, officers have limited the public benefit review to cash assistance and long-term institutional care. Other public benefits, such as Medicaid, food assistance, child care, and housing support, were not counted against applicants. DHS’s new policy change will remove those guardrails after the effective date.

Instead, officers will have broader discretion in making a public charge determination. They may consider the applicant’s use of public benefits from any Federal, State, territorial, Tribal, and local program with income- or asset-based eligibility thresholds.

Most alarmingly, a child’s receipt of public benefits may be considered in an assessment of a family’s overall financial need. This means that a caregiver’s chances at approval could suffer for simply getting their child the same food, health care, or child care support that any family might need.

When DHS proposed this policy change last year, Children’s Rights opposed it in a public comment, warning that the policy would undermine children’s health, family stability, and family integrity by removing assurances for parents seeking essential services for their children. Researchers have documented that this type of policy change creates a “chilling effect” where families withdraw their children from services out of fear, even if the policies do not apply to them. The result is that children go without health care, nutrition assistance, and other supports they need to thrive.

Read the toolkit from our partners in the Protecting Immigrant Families Coalition for a comprehensive review of the policy changes and practical guidance to inform advocates and families.

Every child deserves to receive health care, food, housing, and early education without fear that seeking these basic necessities will put their family’s future at risk.