SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- A San Francisco organization that advocates rights for overseas Chinese Monday blasted U.S. President Donald Trump's "public charge" rules that target low-income immigrants and their families.
Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), a group that promotes the civil and political rights of Chinese and Asian Americans, in partnership with several other community organizations, told a press conference that Trump's new policy will make it more difficult for immigrants to obtain residency in the United States.
Under the broadened terms of the rules, immigrants who receive public benefits, such as housing assistance, health care or food assistance, will likely be labeled as a public charge, which would deny them pathway to citizenship or permanent residence in the country.
"Public charge is a label used today by the U.S. government when determining whether immigrants could become dependent on government assistance, with racist roots that date back to the days of Chinese Exclusion" in the 19th century, said Pang Hongmei, CAA director of advocacy.
"Emblematic of his overt racism, nativism, and xenophobia, the rule provides the Trump Administration a mechanism to make America White again by scapegoating immigrants of color," she added.
Pang said about 300,000 people across the United States could be directly affected when the new policy goes into effect in October, adding that CAA has received more than 20 phone calls of inquiry about the public charge rules since early this month.
She expressed worries about the "chilling effect" of the policy, urging immigrants to know their own rights and refrain from discontinuing their access to federal benefits they are entitled to, including health care.
Amy Lin, immigrant rights program manager at CAA, said the new rules would mostly impact families, women, children, seniors and disabled people who are from low-income population.
She hopes the immigrants would not be scared by the new rules without detailed knowledge about specific regulations contained in the policy.
