The federal government is finding more ways to make daily life harder for immigrants and their families. Fees are increasing. Work permits are becoming more limited. Housing assistance is being narrowed. Processing times for applications are increasing or being paused altogether.
All these changes have the same goal: whittling away avenues for immigrants to survive.
Lawsuits are ongoing for many of these changes, but there is one way you can fight back: you can submit public comments.
Public Comment 101
When federal agencies change policies, they must allow the public to comment on how this will affect them. Typically, this means the public gets 30 to 60 days to submit comments.
Comments are important for two key reasons:
First, they give the agency more information and insight as to how the regulations will affect them. In previous administrations, for agencies staffed by people who care about the impact of their work on communities, this is a critical step to gather information.
Second, comments are public record. Even if the agency ignores the comments and enacts the rule anyway, an ensuing lawsuit can use the comments as proof that the agency did not take public will into account.
Anyone can submit a comment – including people who are not citizens yet.
The one thing you do need is an email address.
The most effective comments are the ones that you make your own. The best comments share how this rule change affects you, your family, or someone you know. Share your story and personalize your comments.
Be clear about the specific harm caused be a rule change you’re opposing.
Also know duplicative comments will be deleted, so only submit your comment once.
Finally, your voice matters. Submitting a public comment is one way to have yours heard.
Step 1: Write your comment. For the rules listed below, we have comment generators that can help, but feel free to make it your own!
Step 2: Submit your comment on regulations.gov. Copy your comment from the generator, make any edits you’d like, and then submit it as an individual.
Proposed Rule Changes
We need to be clear: working is a right. Housing is right. And we need to remind our government of those facts. Right now, we’re following two proposed changes to regulations.
Asylum Employment Authorization Documents
A proposed new rule would make it much harder for asylum seekers to apply for an initial work permit and make some work permit renewals more difficult.
Seeking asylum is a right everyone has under both US and international law. You must seek protection when you arrive at a US port of entry, a border, or within the country. This is different than being a refugee, where the claim for protection is weighed before arriving in the US.
This proposed rule would pause all asylum employment authorization documents (EADs) when the processing time exceeds 180 days. Right now, that is the case for every asylee applying for a work permit. According to USCIS, this pause will last between 14 and 173 years.
This rule provides no benefit to anyone—it simply hurts people already seeking safety within our borders.
Multi-status federally subsidized housing
A proposed new rule would make it impossible for multi-status families to get and maintain federal housing assistance.
Currently, citizens and immigrants with status can apply for federal housing assistance, without sharing the citizenship status of everyone in their home. Mixed status families – where some members of a family may be citizens or legal residents but others are not – can stay together. The federal government only pays for the people who have legal status.
This proposal would prohibit families with mixed immigration status from receiving housing assistance or living in either public or Section 8 housing.
If adopted, many families would have to choose between going homeless or breaking up. 80,000 people could be evicted from their homes. That includes 37,000 children, nearly all of whom are themselves U.S. citizens.
The common theme in both of these cases is that the Trump administration is trying to make simply existing in this country next to impossible for immigrants.
Sample Public Comments
Need some more inspiration?
Here are some actual comments that were submitted opposing the changes to the HUD rule, referenced above. Note that they are all different lengths, and they each sound unique.
Example 1:
Absolutely not. This will do nothing but harm families and make housing for many even more unstable and insecure.
Example 2:
I strongly oppose HUD’s proposed rule “Housing and Community Development Act of 1980: Verification of Eligible Status (FR-6524).” The Trump administration should immediately withdraw its current proposal. HUD recognizes that the proposed changes will significantly reduce the supply of affordable housing for everyone, citizens and immigrants alike. By adding more steps to limit housing, public housing authorities will need to either offer fewer vouchers or allow more units to sit vacant. Also, the new documentation requirements for citizens and elderly non-citizens will put people with disabilities at risk of losing housing assistance. Already there was a young man with disabilities who passed away because his father, his primary caregiver, was taken away. This rule will exacerbate more families in difficult positions. People with disabilities often have additional barriers to accessing proof of citizenship and identity. Not everyone can easily access paperwork nor have the extra funds to pay for the identification needed for this rule. HUD should instead work with Congress to make major new investments in the federal housing programs and take actions that ensure everyone has a safe and affordable place to call home. By enforcing this rule, the housing and homelessness crisis will worsen.
Example 3:
I oppose this rule. We’re supposed to be the good guys here. Don’t we want families to stay together? If HUD has such limited funding that they want to cut people off who may have relatives staying with them who are not citizens, how about we raise taxes on billionaires? I’m sure they’d be glad to help out the country that makes them so much money!