Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) published in the Federal Register on November 19, 2025. We are members of a research team dedicated to understanding the conditions U.S. children experience as the first step toward ensuring that all children have equitable access to the resources they need to thrive. Our research project diversitydatakids.org examines whether children in the U.S. have what they need to grow up healthy and achieve their full potential, and whether social policies are well designed to improve children’s lives and how to make them better to improve child wellbeing and equity.
As experts in evaluating the effectiveness of child and family policies and their impacts on economic outcomes and child health and wellbeing, we oppose the proposed regulatory changes to the public charge rule on the grounds that it will decrease participation in safety net programs that are proven to reduce poverty and thus harm the health and development of children in immigrant families, the vast majority of whom are U.S. citizens. Additionally, due to its expansive intent, the proposed rule will likely discourage even immigrant families with legal permanent resident and naturalized citizen adults from participating in programs that they are eligible for. The expansiveness and lack of precision in the proposed rule will create uncertainty, inhibit families from participating in programs that benefit children, and enable its arbitrary application. Therefore, we recommend that DHS immediately withdraw the current proposed changes in favor of regulations that support immigrant families’ pathways to economic security and health.
"As experts in evaluating the effectiveness of child and family policies and their impacts on economic outcomes and child health and wellbeing, we oppose the proposed regulatory changes to the public charge rule on the grounds that it will decrease participation in safety net programs that are proven to reduce poverty and thus harm the health and development of children in immigrant families, the vast majority of whom are U.S. citizens."
Nearly 10 million children (over 13% of children under 18) in the U.S. live in poverty. Rigorous causal evidence shows that poverty harms their experiences during childhood, their health and education, and their economic prospects as adults. Children in poverty are more likely to have diminished physical health and mental health challenges, as well as lower educational attainment, difficulty obtaining steady and well-paying employment, and a greater likelihood of risky behaviors as adults. Social safety net programs provide these children with essential financial, food, health, educational, and housing resources, filling the income gaps they face. The research evidence suggests that these programs, such as SNAP, Medicaid, Head Start, and housing assistance, not only defray the cost of meeting children’s immediate needs, but also support their healthy development across the life course and across generations. A strong evidence base shows that the benefits to children and across the life course outweigh the costs of these programs.
Children in immigrant families, who make up more than 25% of the U.S. child population, are twice as likely to live in poverty as children in nonimmigrant families largely because their parents are more likely to work in low-wage jobs. These children, nearly all (90%) of whom are U.S. citizens themselves, face additional risks to their health and wellbeing. On top of the increased poverty risk, these children must contend with threats of immigration enforcement and family separation, which have measured negative impacts on their health. For example, during periods of heightened anti-immigrant climates, babies born to immigrant mothers exhibit worse birth outcomes. Detention and family separation have been shown to negatively impact children’s physical, mental, cognitive, and developmental health outcomes.
Actions to restrict children in immigrant families’ access to the health and safety net further harm their health and wellbeing. Research has found that restrictive eligibility rules, reduced benefit levels, high administrative burden, and the public charge rule all limit the benefits that these children receive, despite having higher poverty rates. Notably, these actions hurt not only immigrant children, but U.S. citizen children who are the vast majority (90%) of children in mixed-status immigrant families.
The public charge rule, especially during periods where there is an attempt to expand its definition, discourages immigrant families from accessing benefits and services their children need, even when these children—and other members of their families—are eligible for those benefits and services. Therefore, an expansion of the public charge rule will constitute undue hardship on U.S. citizen children. Noncitizens can be determined to be a “public charge” if they are primarily dependent on government cash benefits, a determination which can impact their ability to attain legal permanent resident status and eventually U.S. citizenship. The threat of being deemed a public charge discourages immigrants from accessing public services to which they or their children may be entitled. For instance, in 2017, when a Department of Homeland Security rule leaked that expanded public charge determination to include use of in-kind public benefits such as SNAP and Medicaid, many low-income immigrant families opted not to use those programs. This included even immigrant families with legal permanent residents or even naturalized citizens. Even when this rule was withdrawn in 2021, national surveys showed that legal permanent residents and citizen family members in mixed-status families still opted to forego benefits as a result of widespread confusion and fear. In sum, the public charge rule, especially during periods when there is an attempt to expand its reach, reduces access to programs even for those who meet income-eligibility and immigrant eligibility requirements, and harm U.S. citizen children in immigrant families.
