Boil water advisory issued due to infrastructure maintenance.
Newschannel 3 spoke with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center about the calls that have been flooding into their office.
Calls are coming in from non-profits helping immigrants and immigrants themselves who are wondering if they should opt out of legally received government assistance because of President Trump’s plans.
The president’s draft resolution was released by the Washington Post, it could change all the rules for immigrants and public benefits.
Susan Reed, Managing Attorney for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, says undocumented immigrants really aren’t eligible for any public assistance programs, but members of their families, who are documented, could be, and President Trump’s plans are causing worry.
“It’s not clear, but could potentially put people at risk who have perfectly legally received benefits, or whose family members have received benefits,” said Reed.
Reed says the executive order could throw all guidance about the way public assistance for immigrants is done out the window, and those who’ve been receiving assistance could face a penalty or even deportation.
“What we don’t know is would those rules be applied only in the future or would they be applied retroactively to people who have fully complied with the law and received benefits they’re eligible for and now penalized,” said Reed, “we just don’t know.” Even though Reed isn’t recommending that any families drop their public benefits, some would rather do that than face being penalized.
“So it really is creating a tremendous amount of anxiety and concern,” said Reed.
Reed says the draft of the executive order also seeks to penalize those who sponsor immigrants to come here.