Initiative for Baltimore immigrants, refugees will get $4M in ARPA funds

A new initiative will use federal funds to reduce disparities, many of them exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, in Baltimore’s immigrant and refugee communities, Mayor Brandon Scott announced Wednesday.

The Baltimore New American Access Coalition will designate $4 million of the city’s American Rescue Plan Act money to help immigrants access social and health services, including immigration legal services, that will inform residents about their rights to use public benefits.

“New American families still struggle with the chilling effect of the Public Charge proposal, which sought to restrict immigrant families from receiving public benefits or risk compromising their immigration status,” said Catalina Rodriguez Lima, director of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, in a news release. “Having Benefit Navigators and immigration consults will help ease families’ concerns when accessing critical support services like food, internet assistance, rental assistance, health care, and financial assistance.”

The public charge rule was a 2019 Trump administration regulation that made it easier to reject immigration applications from people who used government programs like Medicaid or SNAP. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has since adopted a narrower rule, effective in December,

that will apply only to applicants who are likely to “become primarily dependent on the government for subsistence.”

The new Baltimore coalition targets immigrants and refugee families because many were ineligible for COVID-specific economic relief programs, including unemployment benefits and child tax credits, Scott said in a news release. Language barriers and eligibility rules continue to restrict immigrants’ access to government health and social services, Scott said.

Benefits navigators at four community organizations will help New American residents from different countries and in different sectors of the city overcome language barriers to navigate health resources and benefits. The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs will ensure case management is consistent across the participating organizations, and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services will provide technical assistance. The four organizations are:

Catholic Charities Esperanza Center: African foreign-born families concentrated in Northeast Baltimore and foreign-born families citywide.

The International Rescue Committee: Refugee, asylees and Mandarin- or Koreanspeaking foreign-born families concentrated in Central, Northeast and West Baltimore.

CASA: Latino foreign-born families in Northwest and South Baltimore.

Southeast CDC: Latino foreign-born families in Southeast Baltimore.