The following statement can be attributed to Wendy Cervantes, director of the Immigration and Immigrant Families team at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP).
Washington, D.C, September 2, 2026—Children’s advocates mourn the death of Pierre Damas Bel, a Black 20-year-old first-year college student from Haiti with dreams of becoming a doctor. His preventable death followed weeks of anguish after he was stripped of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and fitted with an ankle monitor, along with many other Haitian Ohioans who have built their lives in Springfield. Pierre is one of more than 350,000 Haitian nationals across the country who have been robbed of their work authorization and legal status due to the Trump Administration’s termination of TPS for Haiti, leaving them vulnerable to detention, deportation, and family separation. Pierre’s tragic story is a reminder that Black immigrants continually face the compounded pressures of a punitive immigration system that is not only xenophobic and outdated, but also anti-Black.
Experts from the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) issued the following statements:
Wendy Cervantes, Director of Immigration and Immigrant Families at CLASP: “All of our children deserve the opportunity to follow their dreams and prepare for their futures. They deserve to build community, pursue an education, and put down roots in the place they call home. But the federal government has robbed this from countless children and adults, like 20-year-old Pierre Damas Bel, by cruelly taking away their immigration status and forcing them to wear electronic shackles; and others by locking them away in detention camps and sending them to dangerous places they don’t know.
“No child, teenager, or young adult should have their lives cut short by any policy or political agenda. Nothing can undo what was done to Pierre, but our elected officials can act now to stop the bleeding they’ve caused to our beautifully diverse communities. Remove the shackles, restore dignity. Close the camps, cancel the removal flights. Make pathways to stabilizing immigration status. Invest in solutions that ensure all of our children can grow up to become whole, healthy adults. Our precious children need us to create the conditions that let them live.”
Kaelin Rapport, PhD, ACLS Leading Edge Fellow and Policy Analyst, Public Benefits Justice at CLASP: “Pierre’s future was stolen by the Trump Administration’s crusade of wanton cruelty against immigrants—and built on a history of the United States using carceral violence against Black individuals. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has used electronic monitoring—modern-day shackles—to surveil Black communities, including immigrants. In my research, I’ve repeatedly heard from men like Pierre how humiliating it is to be subjected to this type of surveillance; people reported feeling dehumanized, stigmatized, depressed, and paranoid, presenting long-term consequences for public health.
“While electronic monitoring is often praised because of its presumed cost and harm reduction, Pierre’s and other Haitian Ohioans’ stories show us otherwise. By stripping Black immigrants of their legal status, surveilling them both in and out of detention, and sending them to harmful conditions, the United States is simply repeating its long history of criminalizing Black people. Our policymakers at all levels of government must do right by our Black and immigrant neighbors, remove their shackles, free them from unnecessary immigrant detention, and create workable pathways to citizenship that allow them to build stable lives in the American communities they call home.”
Christian Collins, Policy Analyst, Education, Labor, and Worker Justice at CLASP: “The tragedy that has befallen Pierre Damas Bel’s family and community is a direct consequence of the Trump Administration’s abject cruelty towards Black immigrants. However, the state of Ohio also bears responsibility for this tragedy. State policymakers have shamelessly watched as the federal government has weaponized racism and xenophobia against Springfield’s Haitian community—a population who happily integrated themselves into a struggling city to help revitalize it.
“Ohio has not only failed to protect Pierre because of his immigration status, but has made him the latest example in a long list of its failures to protect Ohio’s college students. It is no surprise that a system that has failed to stand up for its students against policymakers’ attacks, has again failed to stand up for Pierre as he faced isolation and bullying after beginning his semester at Wright State. No family or community sends their children to be harassed or to die at an educational institution. Ohio’s policymakers and its schools must protect students and communities against the harms they face from the Trump Administration—not sacrifice them to cling to the altar of power.”
By Elizabeth Lower-Basch
CLASP’s new working paper examines 30 years of TANF and finds that the program now reaches far fewer families while providing substantially less cash assistance. It finds limited evidence that TANF’s work requirements produced lasting employment or earnings gains and argues that declining caseloads should not be treated as a measure of success. The paper cautions against applying TANF-style work requirements and administrative barriers to programs like SNAP and Medicaid.
CLASP submitted a comment opposing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) proposing changes to the Unaccompanied Children Program through the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). The rule would create additional requirements in sponsor assessment to include restrictive proof of identity requirements, modified income verification standards, and expanded background checks. The NPRM also proposes the conduct of examinations of unaccompanied children for gang-related tattoos or markings related to considerations of “dangerousness.” These proposed changes would delay family reunification by deterring parents and other trusted caregivers from coming forward to sponsor unaccompanied children, prolonging unaccompanied children’s stay in federal custody, and exposing vulnerable children to further trauma, all without any evidence that the changes would improve child safety. We urge the ORR to withdraw or substantially revise this proposed rule to prioritize the well-being of unaccompanied children by safely and quickly facilitating family reunification.
>> Read the full comment here.
By Amienata Fatajo
This brief explores which groups are most impacted by public benefit restrictions, how benefit restrictions influence behavior, and why reduced access to food and health care creates both short- and long-term health inequities. Immigrants are one of the major groups who are impacted by those restrictions. Fear of deportation and administrative burdens, as well as eligibility restrictions, limit access to food and health care. These restrictions shape behavior, cause people to avoid essential services for which they are eligible and ultimately worsen public health outcomes and inequities across communities.
The following statement can be attributed to Wendy Chun-Hoon, president and executive director of the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
Washington, D.C., August 19, 2026—On September 15, the U.S. Census Bureau will release reports with national data on Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance for 2025. While we anticipate a slight rise in poverty across the board compared to the data from 2024, we know that next month’s numbers will serve as a bellwether for what’s coming.
The changes wrought by H.R.1, signed into law by President Trump in July 2025, are already taking effect in communities across the country. For example, Congress let the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits expire last December when it passed H.R.1, pushing nearly three million people off their health insurance in early 2026. While the 2025 data don’t yet capture this drop in access to affordable health insurance for millions, we know that individuals and families are desperately struggling to pay for health care.
We should anticipate a rise in poverty for women, higher poverty for children of all races, and more poverty among immigrants, all driven by the many provisions in H.R.1 that are destabilizing families, such as the elimination of more than $200 billion in basic food assistance over the next decade. SNAP work requirements have also been tightened for elderly people and people with disabilities. Already, between October 2025 and February 2026, we’ve seen WIC participation decline by 250,000 people.
The administration’s relentless attacks on immigrants and their families will continue to have a chilling effect on access to the public benefit programs they are eligible for. This includes policymakers imposing significant eligibility restrictions on Medicaid, ACA, and SNAP for immigrants authorized to be in the U.S. In addition, immigration enforcement has created conditions in which workers lose wages and can fall into poverty if they stay home due to fear of ICE officers at workplaces.
While the administration and Congressional leaders have targeted immigrants in their slashing of social safety net programs, populations across the country are seeing their Medicaid, food assistance, and child care assistance gutted at the federal level in favor of funding military actions and aggressive immigration enforcement. We also know that last fall’s longest-ever government shutdown—a crisis manufactured by the White House and Congress—pushed countless people to the economic brink. Moreover, millions are living with the consequences of policy choices that have driven up inflation, driven down wages, and reduced funding for programs that meet basic needs. As a result, far too many people are taking on debt just to buy groceries and pay for the gas they need to commute to work.
We expect the September reports will show a wider gender pay gap and a rise in income inequality for Black households relative to white households. This phenomenon is largely driven by the disproportionate job losses experienced by Black women and the fact that it took Black women twice as long to find a job as white women in the second half of 2025. After attaining employment, Black women are paid less than their white peers, regardless of their educational level.
The Census reports will be much more than a look-back at the state of the country in 2025. Sadly, they will be a preview of the harm ahead for our communities because policymakers have chosen to enrich the wealthiest and finance a siege on immigrants over helping people meet their most basic, human needs. Poverty is the result of systemic failures, and our nation and the people who show up every day to make our economy work deserve better.
In recent years, states like New York and New Mexico have demonstrated that universal child care is possible. However, despite widespread awareness of the value of child care and positive progress at the state level, the Trump Administration has continued to dismantle the existing child care and early education system through funding freezes and fraud allegations. As a result, the administration has further destabilized an already fragile sector. But what if the fight to protect child care is also our opportunity to transform it?
CLASP’s next installment of Equity Matters, “What if the Current Fight to Protect Child Care is also an Opportunity to Transform it?” will examine what it means to build a truly equitable universal child care system—and why the building process matters as much as the vision itself.
Our panel of experts will discuss how meaningful engagement with families, providers, and other directly impacted communities—particularly communities of color, people with low incomes, and immigrants—strengthens policy design, informs implementation, and centers equity.
Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of why centering the leadership and expertise of those most impacted is essential to advancing racial equity and building a universal child care system that is just, inclusive, and responsive to all who rely on and sustain it.
Tune in on October 22 to learn more and join the conversation. We will share additional event details soon. In the meantime, please register below:
By Yadira Lopez
Immigrant workers are the backbone of the U.S. workforce and economy. However, worker protections and attacks on immigrants have increased since the start of the second Trump Administration. A combination of xenophobic messaging, attacks on immigrants’ ability to work, increased immigration enforcement, and rescinded worker protections have created labor conditions that shift power toward employers, weaken workers’ ability to assert their rights, and increase opportunities for labor exploitation. Insights from focus groups with immigrant workers revealed a loss of opportunity in employment outcomes, poor treatment and exploitation through wage theft and fear of retaliation, and increased fear of immigrant enforcement and family separation under recent circumstances. This brief uplifts the voices and experiences of immigrant workers and provides policy recommendations for supporting them and ultimately ensuring the safety and well-being of all workers.
By Alecia Murray
What if the people most impacted by child care and early education policies helped design them?
This brief explores why systemic parent engagement is essential, how gaps at the federal level impact families locally, and why solutions like a state-level Parent Cabinet could transform how policy is shaped. This transformation is needed, because when parents move from being heard to having influence, systems do not just improve- they become more equitable, responsive, and effective.
By Lily Ana Marquez
Having a child can be one of life’s most profound joys. Yet, parenthood also means a constant balance between nurturing, protecting, and advocating.
This brief discusses how underinvestment in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act undermines the implementation of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and requires parents to be the primary advocates for their children. Her report offers an IEP roadmap example for parents starting the process and highlights why stronger investment and meaningful parent-school partnerships are essential to improving outcomes for children with disabilities
CLASP submitted comments opposing a new federal policy that would allow citizenship and immigration data from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program to be shared with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The comments warn that expanded data sharing could deter eligible immigrant families from accessing cash assistance and other public benefits, increasing financial hardship for children and families with low incomes.