President Jane Close Conoley Submitted the Following Comment Letter in Opposition to President Trump's Proposed Public Charge Order
RE: DHS Docket No. USCIS-2010-0012, RIN 1615-AA22, Comments in Response to Proposed Rulemaking: Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds
To whom it may concern:
Please accept my comment letter in opposition to the proposed Public Charge order.
The proposed rule would discourage both immigrant youth and U.S. citizen youth with non-citizen parents from pursuing a college education, which is proven to promote self-sufficiency. It is estimated about 41 percent of the roughly 18 million immigrant families who received benefits between 2014 and 2016 live in either California or New York.
Long Beach State University is located in the city of Long Beach and sits on the border of Los Angeles and Orange counties in California. These counties drive much of the state’s economy, which is highly dependent on an educated citizenry – including people who work within the information, manufacturing, entertainment, health and hospitality sectors. Sixty-five percent of Long Beach State’s 320,000 alumni live and work within 50 miles of the campus. Their collective contributions to society are too vast to count, including the positive impacts of our alumni of immigrant backgrounds.
The annual mid-career salary of our alumni exceeds $98,000, freeing graduates – both immigrant and non-immigrant – from long-term dependence upon government programs. On the path to graduation, 71 percent of our undergraduate students rely on some financial aid, including 57 percent who receive a Pell Grant. Even with financial aid, students and families face significant hurdles just to pay for housing and food. According to a recent study commissioned by the California State University’s Chancellor’s Office, 1 in 10 students in the California State University system is homeless, and 1 in 5 does not have steady access to food. Students are skipping meals because they lack the income to meet these basic needs. In short, numerous studies show hungry and homeless students face significant barriers to college completion. Research also shows, when these same students gain even small amounts of financial assistance, they are more likely to achieve their higher education goals in a timely fashion. Unfortunately, the proposed rule would have a chilling effect on these efforts and/or penalize students and their families who seek help.
As one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the United States, the city of Long Beach is rich in diversity and cultural exchanges. Nearly half the population is Latino. It is home to the largest Cambodian population outside of Cambodia, and it has a sizeable African American community. Raising the education attainment rates within these communities is a top priority in for the campus and a key opportunity for the region. Challenging us is the reality that 68 percent of the 81,000 school children in the Long Beach Unified School District are considered socio-economically disadvantaged. But we are making progress, and our efforts to reverse the poverty paradigm are reflected in CollegeNET’s Social Mobility Index, ranking Long Beach State University sixth in the nation for fostering upward mobility for economically disadvantaged individuals.
Legal immigrants, and U.S. citizens born to non-citizen parents are, and will continue to be, a strong part of the fabric of Southern California and our campus community. The proposed Public Charge rule would erect unnecessary barriers to individuals who are seeking to improve their lives – and all our lives – through higher learning. By reducing opportunities for long-term self-reliance, the proposed rule would cause hardships not only for our students, but also for their extended families, exacerbating financial instability. The result would be a toll further exacted on already distressed communities.
Again, we respectfully oppose the proposed Public Charge order. The order would result in profound and negative effects for Long Beach and the Southern California region. It would impede the campus’ progress in fostering social mobility and a stronger economy. It also would reverse some of the gains we have already made, harming our well-being.
Sincerely,
Jane Close Conoley, Ph.D.
President
