California Immigration Lawyer Blog

I previously wrote about how the health care and immigration debate has hit Vallejo. Specifically the Solano County Grand jury had recommended that funding by the Solano County Board of Supervisors to La Clinica De La Raza be limited to only those residents of the county who could prove legal residence or citizenship. (See also my previous post on Update on proposal to limit funding to La Clinic De La Raza.) On October 6, 2009, the Board submitted their response to the Grand Jury's report. I am happy to write that the Board has chosen not to follow the Grand Jury's recomendation and will leave all funding to the clinic intact. I commend the Board for making this decision. The health of all residents of Solano County should be a priority for all of us.

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I recently had a client inquire as to whether her enrollment in San Francisco's "Healthy Families" health insurance plan would endanger her green card application because she might be considered a "public charge." I originally thought it would be a problem but it turned out not to be.

San Francisco has a health insurance program called "Healthy Families." It is for uninsured children and low income individuals living in San Francisco. Members pay a small monthly fee and the program is partly funded by the government.

Under Section 212(a)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), an individual seeking admission to the United States or seeking to adjust status to that of an individual lawfully admitted for permanent residence (green card) is inadmissible if the individual, "at the time of application for admission or adjustment of status, is likely at any time to become a public charge."

An individual becomes a "public charge" when he or she is likely to become primarily dependent on the government for subsistence, as demonstrated by either the receipt of public cash assistance for income maintenance or institutionalization for long-term care at government expense.

USCIS has a very extensive article on their website that discusses what type of benefits, if received, would and would not be relevant in a determination concerning public charge. Non-cash benefits (other than institutionalization for long-term care) are generally not taken into account for purposes of a public charge determination. Specifically regarding San Francisco Healthy Families, USCIS states that Healthy Families benefits "are not considered for public charge purposes."

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Posted In: Adjustment of status , Health care , Public Charge , Public benefits , USCIS

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I recently wrote a post about a proposal pending in front of the Solano County Board of Supervisors that recommends that the Board limit funding to La Clinica de la Raza in Vallejo to only Solano County residents who have proof of citizenship or legal residency. I indicated in my post that the Board was going to vote on the proposal on September 22, 2009. This date has now been changed. The Board is now going to vote on the proposal at their meeting scheduled for October 6, 2009.

I have received a copy of the actual report issued by the "watch dog" group that recommended the cut in funding. It turns out that the recommendation was made by the Solano County Grand Jury. Apparently the Grand Jury received a complaint from a "citizen" (although the report does not indicate how they verified the citizenship of this individual) about Solano County providing funding to the clinic because the clinic provides services to illegal aliens. The Grand Jury decided to investigate the complaint. Based on their investigation, the Grand Jury recommended that the County contributions (of $100,000 each year for three years) be limited to "serving only Solano County residents who have proof of citizenship or legal residency."

In my opinion there is a lot that is wrong with the recommendation morally and socially, but I wish to focus on the immigration aspect of it for this post. Basically it is my opinion that a verification requirement of immigration status will create an unworkable and bureaucratic mess for the following reasons.

Continue reading "Update on proposal to limit funding to La Clinica De La Raza in Solano County" »

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I am a member of the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Benicia Chamber of Commerce. We periodically invite federal and Solano County legislators and their aides to our committee meetings to update us on local issues that impact business owners and residents of Benicia. I enjoy being on the committee because I get a real feel for what is happening in the city.

On Wednesday, September 9, the legislative aides for Congressman George Miller and Solano County Supervisor Linda Seifert spoke at our meeting. One of the issues they spoke about was the existence of La Clinica North Vallejo. The health clinic was established in November 2008 to provide urgent and primary care to the community's low income and uninsured population. The clinic is situated across the street from Sutter Solano Hospital and is funded in part by Sutter Solano, Kaiser Vallejo and Solano County. The idea behind the establishment of the clinic and the location of the clinic was to provide care for patients who were going to the emergency room in the hospitals. It is more cost effective for people to go to a clinic and receive preventive care than to show up at an emergency room for something that could have been prevented. Some of the clients who I see in my Benicia Social Security practice have been receiving care at La Clinica Vallejo so I was excited to hear about it.

After the meeting I returned to my office and decided to read more about La Clinica North Vallejo. What I learned, surprised me. I did not know that it has become the focus of a debate about illegal immigration. As the Wall Street Journal recently reported, the clinic has been criticized for providing care to undocumented residents. A "watchdog group" (unidentified in the article) has released a report advising the county that the clinic should only serve residents who have proof of citizenship or legal residency. According to the article, the County board of supervisors and the County health director have 90 days to respond to their report.

Continue reading "Immigration and health care debate hits Vallejo" »

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Posted In: Health care

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