This month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued their finalized rule around public charge policy. The finalized rule, which goes into effect on September 18, 2026, removes clarity for families applying for lawful permanent residence in the U.S. and limits immigrant families from accessing public benefits programs for which they are eligible.1 Alongside thousands of organizations and individuals across the country, The Campaign submitted comments last August opposing the initial proposal.The finalized guidance will have negative effects on the health, security, and future of Colorado’s immigrant children.
The public charge test is a part of the application process immigrants go through when applying for permanent residency, or a green card, to determine whether the individual would need to receive government assistance in the future.2 The final rule removes clear guidance about which programs are considered in the public charge test and is inconsistent with decades of policy and practice. This will create confusion about what benefits are “safe” and not safe for immigrant families and have a chilling effect across the safety net. The finalized rule also allows DHS officials to bring bias and discrimination into applications for permanent residency.
This rule will not only negatively impact immigrant families who would be subject to the public charge test but will also impact U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. Up to 2.1 million people will be impacted nationally, the majority of which are children. In 2020-2023, 56% of U.S. born citizens lived in a family that used benefit programs that could now be considered in public charge assessment from the finalized rule.3 As a result, children will lose access to healthcare, food assistance, and early childhood education, which will have detrimental long-term effects on their health, development, and economic stability. Furthermore, drops in participation or enrollment in these programs will mean less resources for early childhood programs and public schools, harming communities that depend on these programs to promote early child development, education, and positive long-term academic outcomes.
In Colorado, immigrants make our communities stronger. One in ten Coloradans was born outside of the U.S.,4 over a quarter million Colorado children have at least one immigrant parent,5 and 104,362 Colorado children are multilingual learners in our public schools.6 Immigrants make up 11% of our workforce, contribute $7.7 billion dollars in tax revenues, and contribute over $21 billion a year to our economy through private spending. In 2022, our undocumented population paid $437 million in taxes,7 supporting programs and services ranging from universal preschool (UPK) to Medicaid to Head Start to public schools – including programs and services that many of these families are already ineligible to receive.
The Colorado Children’s Campaign believes all children deserve healthy, safe, and happy lives and we call for an immediate stop to this harmful policy change.
5Vera Institute of Justice, Profile of the Foreign‑Born Population: Denver (Vera Institute, September 13, 2019), Vera Institute of Justice Publications.
6Colorado Department of Education, “SchoolView: State Snapshot,” SchoolView: School and District Data, accessed August 6, 2025, Colorado Department of Education, state snapshot data,https://www.cde.state.co.us/schoolview/explore/statesnapshot.
