A6 TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2019 LATIMES.COM
Advocates have vowed to
block the new rules from tak-
ing effect, and Congress
could attempt to halt their
implementation through
legislation. Rep. Judy Chu
(D-Monterey Park) has in-
troduced one such measure
in the House.
“Our message to our
state’s strong, diverse immi-
grant community is simple,”
said Cynthia Buiza, execu-
tive director of the California
Immigrant Policy Center.
“California has your back.”
Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, as-
sociate professor in UCLA’s
department of Chicana and
Chicano studies, said
Trump’s new policies run di-
rectly against the concept of
immigrant integration that
propels the state’s and na-
tion’s economy forward.
Immigrant integration is
an important public benefit
to the state, he said. Labor
participation rates among
immigrants are extremely
high, and public assistance
is an important gateway to
reaching integration, he
added.
“What California’s econo-
my needs is to integrate im-
migrants as quickly as pos-
sible,” he said. “As soon as
immigrants become legal
and become citizens they
dramatically increase their
productivity and ability to
add to the economy.”
Since the Trump admin-
istration first proposed the
rules in October 2018, they
have already had a chilling
effect, with fear leading fam-
ilies of both U.S. citizens and
noncitizens to no longer ac-
cess crucial federal assist-
ance.
According to a December
survey by the Urban Insti-
tute, a nonprofit research or-
ganization, nearly 14% of
1,950 adults who were for-
eign-born or living with for-
eign-born family members
reported avoiding participa-
ting in public benefits in the
last year because of their
concerns about future legal
status.
Joan Alker, executive di-
rector of the Georgetown
University Center for Chil-
dren and Families, said the
new rules could be particu-
larly harmful to children. In
2017, the rate of children
without insurance rose, and
the number of those enrolled
in Medicaid has fallen sub-
stantially.
The new rules, Alker said,
would “lead to significantly
poorer health and life out-
comes for millions of low-in-
come children, especially in
communities of color.”
While Citizenship and
Immigration Services is
charged with administering
the legal immigration sys-
tem and related benefits,
Cuccinelli frequently ap-
pears on cable news and
posts from his official gov-
ernment account railing
against immigrants without
permission to enter or stay
in the U.S., painting them
broadly as criminals and
fraudsters.
Miller reportedly helped
push out Cuccinelli’s prede-
cessor at Citizenship and
Immigration Services for
what he viewed as foot-drag-
ging on the new rules.
In fact, immigrants make
up a small percentage of
those who get public ben-
efits. Many are ineligible for
public benefits because of
their immigration status.
Advocates worry the
rules will scare immigrants
into not asking for help. And
they are concerned the rules
give too broad an authority
to decide whether someone
is likely to need public assist-
ance at any time, giving im-
migration officials the abil-
ity to deny legal status to
more people.
Laurel Lucia, director of
the healthcare program at
the UC Berkeley Labor Cen-
ter, says the new policy could
have a damaging effect onthe California and U.S. econ-
omies. Many in California
who already have a green
card or have become citizens
may decide to dis-enroll
from public benefits such as
Medi-Cal or CalFresh out of
fear for what the policy may
mean for themselves and
family members, causing a
chilling effect on the econo-
my, she said.
“When these Californians
dis-enroll, that means fewer
federal dollars coming into
the state supporting not
only our healthcare system
but our whole economy,” Lu-
cia said.
In a 2018 study by Lucia,
Ninez Ponce of the UCLA
Fielding School of Public
Health and Tia Shimada of
the California Food Policy
Advocates, the authors
found the healthcare sector
would suffer the biggest
economic blow from policy
changes similar to those an-
nounced Monday. The study
projected lost federal sup-
port for Medi-Cal at $1.19 bil-
lion and CalFresh at $
million, and also projected
that up to 17,700 California
jobs would no longer exist —
47% of them in the health-
care sector.
Nationwide, 544,000 peo-
ple apply annually for green
cards, on average, with
about 382,000 falling into
categories that would be
subject to the review as laid
out under the new rules, ac-
cording to the government.
Doug Rand, a former
Obama administration offi-
cial who worked on immigra-
tion regulations, said the
new rules would be much
wider-reaching, applying tomore than 1 million green-
card and visa applicants
within the U.S. each year,
plus some 13 million more
outside the country.
Guidelines in use since
1999 referred to a public
charge as someone primari-
ly dependent on cash assist-
ance, income maintenance
or government support for
long-term institutionaliza-
tion.
Under the new rules, the
Department of Homeland
Security has redefined a
public charge as someone
who is “more likely than not”
to receive public benefits for
more than 12 months within
a 36-month period. If some-
one has two benefits, that is
counted as two months. And
the definition has been
broadened to include Medi-
caid, housing assistance and
food assistance under the
Supplemental Nutrition As-
sistance Program, or SNAP.
Following publication of
the proposed rules last fall,
Homeland Security received
266,000 public comments, in-
cluding from lawmakers and
mayors — more than triple
the average number for a
rule change at the agency,
and a record, according to
advocates.
The agency did make a
series of amendments to the
final rules as a result. For ex-
ample, women who are preg-
nant and on Medicaid or
who need public assistance
will not be subject to the new
rules during the pregnancy
and for 60 days after the
birth of the baby.
The Medicare Part D low-
income subsidy won’t be
considered a public benefit.And public benefits received
by children up until age 21
won’t be considered. Nor will
emergency medical assist-
ance, school lunch pro-
grams, foster care or adop-
tion, student loans and
mortgages, food pantries,
homeless shelters or disas-
ter relief.
Green-card hopefuls will
be required to submit three
years of federal tax returns
in addition to a history of
employment. And if immi-
grants have private health
insurance, that will weigh
heavily in their favor.
Active U.S. military
members are exempt. So are
refugees or asylum seekers,
and the rules would not be
applied retroactively, offi-
cials said. But the Trump
administration also has
moved to drastically reduce
asylum in the U.S.
According to an Associ-
ated Press analysis of census
data, low-income immi-
grants who are not citizens
use Medicaid, food aid, cash
assistance and Supplemen-
tal Security Income, or SSI,
at a lower rate than compa-
rable low-income native-
born adults.
The new public assist-
ance threshold, taken to-
gether with higher require-
ments, will make it more dif-
ficult for immigrants to
qualify for green cards, crit-
ics say.
“Without a single change
in the law by Congress, the
Trump public charge rules
mean many more U.S. citi-
zens are being and will be de-
nied the opportunity to live
together in the U.S. with
their spouses, children andparents,” said Ur Jaddou, a
former Citizenship and Im-
migration Services chief
counsel.
The new rules come at a
time of increased criticism
over Trump’s hard-line poli-
cies and his rhetoric, which
opponents say have helped
provoke deadly violence.
Marielena Hincapie, exe-
cutive director of the Na-
tional Immigration Law
Center, said of the new rules,
“This policy denies a perma-
nent, secure future in this
country to anyone who isn’t
white and wealthy.”
Hinojosa-Ojeda of UCLA
said Trump’s policies had
the potential to create an en-
tire class of people that
would not be able to reach
immigrant integration, leav-
ing them less likely to be pro-
ductive. Legalization in-
creases immigrant income
by more than 20% in the cou-
ple of years after they gain le-
gal status, Hinojosa-Ojeda
said, and leads to a 50-60%
increase in income in the five
to 10 years after they become
citizens.
“The biggest users of so-
cial services are non-immi-
grants, something which
seems to be lost in the gov-
ernment narrative of public
assistance that propels a
view that the policy defends
native workers,” Hinojosa-
Ojeda said. “This is an at-
tempt to divide the ‘worthy’
and the ‘unworthy,’ putting
the immigrants in the ‘un-
worthy’ category. We would
be locking out people from
pathways forward.”The Associated Press
contributed to this report.Trump widens attack on immigration
THE NEW RULES, which will take effect in mid-October, are likely to have a broad impact in states with large immigrant communities.Rogelio V. SolisAssociated Press‘A poor person
can be prepared
to be self-
sufficient. Many
have been
throughout the
history of this
country, so let’s
not look at that
as the be-all
and end-all.’
—Ken Cuccinelli,
acting director of
U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services[T rump, from A1]
Trump that Epstein was
killed — or secretly spirited
away — to keep from impli-
cating others in the alleged
sex trafficking of minors.
Officials previously had
said the FBI, the Justice De-
partment’s inspector gen-
eral and the Bureau of Pris-
ons were investigating Ep-
stein’s death in federal cus-
tody. On Monday, Barr made
clear he was taking a direct
role in the case.
“We are now learning of
serious irregularities at this
facility that are deeply con-
cerning and that demand a
thorough investigation,”
Barr said in a speech to a
Fraternal Order of Police
convention in New Orleans.
“We will get to the bottom of
what happened ... and we
will hold people accountable
for this failure.”
Calling the Epstein case
“very important” to the Jus-
tice Department, Barr
pledged that his death
would not stop the underly-
ing investigation, which has
been led by the Southern
District of New York.
“Let me assure you that
this case will continue on
against anyone who was
complicit with Epstein,”
Barr said. “Any co-conspira-
tors should not rest easy.
The victims deserve justice,
and we will ensure they get
it.”
Epstein had been placed
on suicide watch after he
was found on July 23 with
bruises on his neck that sug-
gested he had tried to hang
himself. But he was taken off
suicide watch by the end of
July, the Associated Press
reported, and was shifted to
atwo-person cell where a
guard was supposed to look
in every 30 minutes.
Epstein was alone in his
cell early Saturday, however,
and guards reportedly were
not checking on him as fre-
quently as required, even
though he was in a high-se-
curity unit known for hold-ing such notorious prisoners
in the past as mob boss John
Gotti and Mexican drug
kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo”
Guzman.
Staffing shortages are
common at the high-rise jail.
Inmates staged a hunger
strike in January after they
were denied family visits.
Epstein was arrested at
an airport in New Jersey on
July 6 after arriving on his
private plane from Paris. He
was charged with sex traf-
ficking and conspiracy, and
the indictment suggested
that others who participa-
ted in the criminal schemecould still be charged.
The headline-grabbing
case quickly expanded as
new witnesses emerged, a
former client accused him of
stealing at least $46 million,
and nearly 2,000 pages of
newly unsealed court docu-
ments suggested Epstein
had enjoyed an opulent life-
style and abused dozens of
young girls. Police found a
trove of pornographic pho-
tos, including some of alleg-
edly underage girls, in his
New York townhouse.
The indictment said Ep-
stein spent years bringing
girls as young as 14 to his lav-
ish homes in New York and
Palm Beach, Fla., for “mas-
sages” that became “in-
creasingly sexual in nature,”
ending in molestation and
abuse. Prosecutors said vic-
tims were paid hundreds of
dollars in cash and received
more money to recruit other
girls.
“Epstein maintained a
steady supply of new victims
to exploit,” the indictment
said.
He was denied bail and
faced up to 45 years in prison
if convicted.
The lurid case was al-
ready shrouded in mystery
and scandal before Epstein’s
death added a morbid twist.
He was required to regis-
ter as a sex offender years
ago as part of a secretive
plea deal reached with fed-eral prosecutors in Florida.
Afederal judge ruled this
year that the deal broke the
law because victims were
not informed of the details.
The ensuing controversy
forced R. Alexander Acosta,
who oversaw the original
prosecution as the U.S. at-
torney in Miami, to resign as
Trump’s secretary of Labor
last month.
Epstein’s case long has
proved a fertile ground for
conspiracy theories because
of the lenient plea deal and
his connections to former
President Clinton, who flew
on Epstein’s private plane
after leaving the Oval Office,
and Trump, who socialized
with him years ago in Palm
Beach. Other global figures
visited Epstein’s private is-
land in the U.S. Virgin Is-
lands.
Now his death has
sparked its own rampant
speculation, and some sus-
pected foul play despite the
lack of evidence.
Trump pointed the finger
at the Clintons, sharing a
tweet from a conservative
commentator that said “Jef-
fery Epstein had informa-
tion on Bill Clinton & now
he’s dead” and the hashtag
“ClintonBodyCount.” Oth-
ers quickly tweeted back
counter-allegations under
the hashtag “TrumpBody-
Count.”
Far-right figures havelong accused the Clintons of
being behind various
deaths, most notably Vince
Foster. The White House
lawyer committed suicide in
a Virginia park in 1993.
Trump has routinely em-
braced outlandish and false
claims, including accusing
California of allowing mil-
lions of illegal votes and de-
nying that President Obama
was born in the United
States. The White House did
not respond to a request for
comment about Trump’s
retweet.
New York’s former may-
or, Rudolph W. Giuliani, who
represented Trump during
the special counsel investi-
gation examining Russian
election interference, urged
caution about jumping to
conclusions.
“The conspiracy theories
concerning the Epstein
death are multiplying. The
facts seem unbelievable,” he
tweeted. “But it is best to
wait for some key facts like
the findings of the autopsy.
Withholding judgment is the
wisest course to follow.”
Epstein’s death drew new
attention to the plague of su-
icides in the nation’s lock-
ups, most of which receive
little to no public attention.
Hundreds of jail inmates
commit suicide every year,
according to the Bureau of
Justice Statistics, a federal
agency.Barr vows to get answers in Epstein death
[E pstein, from A1]
JEFFREY EPSTEINin 2008. The financier appar-
ently killed himself in his jail cell. President Trump
helped spread conspiracy theories about the death.Uma SanghviPalm Beach Post