Victories abound for human needs advocates, CHN allies
David Elliot,
October 14, 2019
Last week we reported the good news: in two different cases, advocates defeated the Trump Administration in U.S. District Court. The first decision involved the Administration’s proposed Public Charge rule, which would deny green cards or visas to immigrants if they have used certain government aid programs such as SNAP, Medicaid, or housing assistance. The second decision dealt with the Administration’s emergency declaration to spend government funds on border wall construction that Congress had refused to authorize – a federal judge ruled the Administration was out of bounds. As it turns out, those two rulings were just a part of a dizzying amount of jurisprudence that has taken place lately, including several cases that involve CHN member groups and allies. Here’s a rundown of what you may have missed.
Score Two Wins for the Rule of Law
Deborah Weinstein,
October 11, 2019
For those who care about meeting human needs, two key court rulings were handed down Friday afternoon. First. the Trump Administration’s attempt to implement its Public Charge rule on October 15 has been blocked by a nationwide preliminary injunction. And second, a U.S. District Court in Texas blocked Trump's border wall funding.
Why, yes – it is a Muslim ban
Elliot Svirnovskiy,
October 1, 2019
United by their shared desperation, they gather to tell their stories. An older woman without any other family discusses waiting for her sister. A couple, only recently reunited after two years, share their struggle. A VA doctor in Iowa - an American citizen - barely chokes out a few sentences about his wife, who is stuck in Iran, before his grief reduces him to tears. Their stories are striking and eerily similar. On Sept. 24, these migrants came before two congressional subcommittees to testify about the injustice they have experienced due to President Trump’s immigration policies.
The latest CHN Human Needs Report: Budget updates, border fights, new Census data, and more
Leo Nguyen,
September 30, 2019
CHN just released another edition of the Human Needs Report. Read on for the latest on Congress's work to avoid a shutdown, immigration and border fights, new poverty and health insurance data, anti-SNAP and Medicaid proposals, and more.
Dangerous Gaps: As inequality rises, 30 percent of Americans live close to the edge and huge proportions of minorities and young children are poor
CHN Staff,
September 26, 2019
Not everyone is benefiting from economic growth. New state and local survey data from the Census Bureau show a poverty rate of 13.1 percent in 2018, down from 13.4 percent over the previous year. While the downward trend is good news, the data continue to show troubling disparities. Income inequality rose nationwide. More than 30 percent of all people in the U.S. have incomes less than twice the federal poverty line (just under $40,000 a year for a family of 3). In 24 states and Puerto Rico, at least 30 percent of people had incomes this modest – above poverty, but on the edge.
