Trump’s immigration crackdown is having a chilling effect on New Yorkers’ access to public benefits.
Trump’s immigration crackdown is having a chilling effect on New Yorkers’ access to public benefits. ·  View in browser
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President Trump’s immigration enforcement agency was quietly granted access to sensitive Medicaid enrollment information. The White House
Trump’s immigration crackdown is having a chilling effect on New Yorkers’ access to public benefits.
By Jie Jenny Zou

For years, Susanna Saul has been reassuring some of her clients that it’s safe to apply for public benefits, even if they’re not citizens. Now, she isn’t sure what to say.

Saul directs legal programs at Her Justice, a Manhattan-based nonprofit that provides free legal assistance to impoverished women and their children. Its clients include victims of trafficking and domestic violence who, unlike most undocumented people, are eligible for Medicaid under decades-old federal exceptions.

“They’ve always been worried about the immigration consequences of accessing public benefits, even before Trump won,” she said. “They always ask us if that’s going to hurt their ability to pursue a pathway to legal status. We’ve always said, ‘no.’”

Recent Stories

County jails are feeling the impact of a prison guard strike. Illustration: Maia Hibbett
After a strike led state prisons to stop accepting new prisoners, local jails have been left holding thousands of extra people.
By Chris Gelardi

The New York state prison system has been running on fumes since its corrections officers walked off the job in February. The three-week wildcat strike ended with the prison agency firing some 15 percent of its guards, while other officers resigned or retired early, grinding prison operations to a halt. Despite a thousands-strong National Guard force deployed to assist remaining staff, facilities have canceled or cut back on programming and recreation, stripping incarcerated people of educational and work opportunities and leaving many lingering — and baking — in their cells and dorms for upwards of 20 hours a day.

A slew of business groups have submitted matching letters to regulators in support of the NESE pipeline, with signs of a coordinated effort. Illustration: New York Focus
Business interests have launched a campaign to back National Grid’s demands for more gas, with fingerprints of the utility’s lobbying firm.
By Colin Kinniburgh

Over the past week, more than a dozen business interests have joined National Grid in backing the Northeast Supply Enhancement project, or NESE, a controversial pipeline championed by President Donald Trump that would carry gas underwater from New Jersey into New York City and Long Island. The groups, mostly based on Long Island, have submitted letters to the state utility regulator with similar — and sometimes identical — language in support of the pipeline.

New York lawmakers are giving more money to the Bronx Community Foundation, which has failed to spend it in the past.
By Sam Mellins

A Bronx charity that failed to distribute hundreds of thousands of dollars that it raised for fire victims received $300,000 in new government grants this spring, records show.

We’ve been keeping a close eye on this particular organization, the Bronx Community Foundation. In January, we reported that it had failed to spend nearly $400,000 it received for the victims of the devastating Twin Parks apartment fire, which killed 17 Bronxites in 2022. For three years in a row, it spent more on consultants and overhead than on charitable giving.

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Staying Focused is compiled and written by Alex Arriaga
Contact Alex at alex@nysfocus.com

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