In 1996, Congress passed restrictive welfare and immigration legislation that created unnecessary barriers, including an arbitrary five-year waiting-period in some programs that delays access to critical benefits and services for lawfully present immigrants. Every individual deserves the basic right to protect their own and their families’ health and economic well-being. Yet, current federal restrictions interfere with the ability of immigrants to secure critical benefits that their tax dollars support.

Federal public benefit programs provide essential support to individuals and families facing economic hardship and are particularly crucial during times of economic and public health crises. As the country recovers from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the LIFT the BAR is more crucial than ever for ensuring immigrant families have access to basic public benefits needed to thrive. Our communities, families and workforce are healthier, and our economy is stronger when more of us have access to basic care and services.
 
To this end, U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) will soon introduce the Lifting Immigrant Families Through Benefits Access Restoration (LIFT the BAR) Act into the House of the 117th Congress. Representative Jayapal is seeking organizational endorsements for this legislation and encourages her Congressional colleagues to sign on as original cosponsors.

The LIFT the BAR Act will:

-Restore access to federal public benefits for lawfully present immigrants, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, individuals granted Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), and other federally authorized non-citizens residing in the United States;

-Lift the bar/remove the five-year bar in Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and the Supplemental Security Income program(SSI);

-Remove arbitrary barriers by ensuring that immigrants with sponsors have access to services based on the income and resources that are actually available to them, removing state authority to impose additional restrictions on qualified immigrants and restoring flexibility for states and localities to provide benefits to immigrants with their own funds.

Please sign on your organization below and feel free to contact Jazmine Garcia Delgadillo with any questions at Jazmine.GarciaDelgadillo@mail.house.gov.