In 2017, 4.9 out of 28 million Texans were born in another country, and over 1.8 million of those were naturalized U.S. citizens (according to the Migration Policy Institute).
5.6 million Texans live in a family that includes at least one non-U.S. 公民(任何移民身份). Policies that affect a family member who is not a U.S. citizen typically affect the entire family.
- 约1.9 million of these family members are kids ages 17 or younger, with the great majority—about 1.65年million-U.S. 公民的孩子. That’s 更多的 than one in every four Texas children.
- 3.9 million of those Texans have family incomes under 250 percent of the federal poverty income, which in 2020 is 少 than $65,000 a year pre-tax income for a family of four.
Our state’s large immigrant population faces all the same barriers to health care and basic needs care as do U.S. 公民,+ an additional and complex list of exclusions.
Children seeking medical attention should be able to access health care without fear of deportation and separation from their families, but immigration officials have been detaining 更多的 people in such situations lately. 典型的拘留包括美国.S. 公民的孩子 with one or 更多的 undocumented parents, though occasionally the child may also lack legal status. 在过去的几年里, checkpoint staff accepted letters from the children’s hospital documenting the need for the child to access care, 家庭也能得到照顾. 最近, 然而, federal immigration officials have been inflexible and have insisted on taking parents and even children with medical needs into custody.
在奥巴马总统, the Department of 首页land Security adopted a policy that immigration agents (ICE and Customs and Border Protection) should avoid enforcement actions at hospitals, 学校, 教堂, and public demonstrations un少 there are special circumstances. However, this official guidance has been ignored on multiple occasions, often in Texas.
在美国.S., 提倡, 企业主, 365betAPP首页工作者, and other community members report that families are avoiding church and school functions, and that even shopping for basic needs is significantly depressed. 犯罪报告减少了. Use of formal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (提前), 医疗补助计划, and Children’s Health Insurance Program (芯片) benefits are down as even U.S. citizens and lawfully present immigrants are afraid to access benefits in the wake of federal administration policy and messaging. Texas’ 2017 anti-immigrant law, SB 4, only adds to the anxiety here in Texas, as does word of these recent incidents.
