On September 22, 2018, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposed a change to immigration policy that would make receipt of certain public assistance, such as health coverage through Medicaid, grounds for denying immigrants lawful permanent residence in the United States.1 The proposed policy applies to lawfully present immigrants who hope to become legal permanent residents as well as foreign-born persons seeking to move to the United States (eg, to be reunified with family members and to work), but not to asylees (persons in the United States or at a port of entry who cannot return to their country because of persecution) or refugees (persons outside of their country of nationality who cannot return to that country because of concerns about persecution).