Asian American Women - Ford Foundation

charge, confusion about which immigrants are eligible for which programs, and
language barriers. Other barriers include the hostility of state and county government
and caseworkers toward immigrants and intimidating government tactics
that discourage immigrants from applying for benefits.
1. Oppressive Government Tactics
From 1994-99, the State of California funded a program at border points and airports
to “catch” immigrant women who used prenatal care provided by Medicaid.
Latina women were detained at the Mexican border by state and INS agents. At the
San Francisco and Los Angeles airports, 50% of those detained were Asian women,
25% were Latina, and 25% were of other nationalities. State and INS officials
specifically targeted women of childbearing age on flights from Asia and Mexico.
Under questioning, if a woman indicated she had recently given birth and received
public assistance at that time, the INS agent on the spot decided whether she was
a public charge and whether or not she received the assistance fraudulently. The
state agent calculated how much she received. Women were intimidated into
repaying the Medicaid benefits they received, even if they obtained the benefits
legally, by the threat of imprisonment, deportation, or reduced chances for obtaining
green cards or citizenship. In this way, California illegally collected $3.8 million
from approximately 1,500 Asian and Latina women. 12
2. The “Public Charge” Label
If the INS considers a person likely to be public charge, i.e. someone who either
has become or has the possibility of becoming dependent on government benefits,
it can deny an immigrant’s application for a green card, refuse immigrants reentry
into the US, or deport the person. Being considered a public charge by the INS is
among the top barriers to immigrant women applying for public assistance. In
May 1999, the INS issued guidelines making it clear that use of food stamps, nutritional
assistance, Medicaid, and school lunches would not make an immigrant a
public charge. Nonetheless, thousands of Asian immigrant women will not apply
for food stamps and Medicaid. More than a year after the INS guidelines were
issued, most Los Angeles area Asian American service providers surveyed in the
APALC study stated they were reluctant to give assurances to immigrant women
because they themselves were skeptical of the INS guidelines. The health consequences
to women and their children who do not have Medicaid are already
becoming manifest. The National Immigrant Law Center recently reported that
infant mortality rates are climbing in immigrant communities such as New York
City’s Bedford-Stuyvesant, Harlem, and in parts of Brooklyn and the Bronx.
12
The program was challenged in court and settlements were reached that required the state to
return the moneys unlawfully collected by the state. In April 1999, the state legislature defunded
the program.
37 Part 1, Economic Justice