Washington, D.C., July 16, 2026 – Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) finalized its public charge rule, rescinding the 2022 regulations that provided clear standards for how public charge determinations are made. During the rulemaking process, CLASP opposed this proposal through comments submitted to DHS and as part of a coalition of nearly 200 organizations dedicated to children’s well-being. We urged DHS to preserve the longstanding regulatory guardrails that provided immigrant families greater certainty about when accessing public benefits would and would not be considered in public charge determinations.

By removing those protections, the final rule creates confusion and uncertainty that will most likely discourage many immigrant families from seeking health care, nutrition assistance, housing supports, and other essential services. Decades of research show that when families fear immigration consequences, many choose not to access programs for which they or their children are eligible. As a result, the harms of this rule will extend well beyond the people directly subject to the public charge test, with many of the consequences falling on U.S. citizen children in mixed-status families.

Responding to the final regulation’s publication, the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) issued the following statement from Wendy Cervantes, its director of the Immigration and Immigrant Families team.

“This public charge policy undermines children’s health and well-being by making it harder for families to feel safe accessing the supports they need. When parents fear that seeking health care, nutrition assistance, or other supports could jeopardize their family’s future, many will simply go without. We have seen this chilling effect before. The result is that children miss out on the care and services that help them grow, learn, and thrive. Every child deserves the opportunity to succeed without their family having to choose between meeting basic needs and protecting their future stability.”