DHS Public Charge Rule Puts Fear Over Food Access, D.C. Hunger Solutions Urges Congress to Pass Lift the Bar Act 

Media Contact: 

Colleen Barton 
cbarton@frac.org 
703-203-7843 

Statement attributable to LaMonika Jones, director, D.C. Hunger Solutions 

WASHINGTON, July 17, 2026 —The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released its public charge rule, which will deepen fear and uncertainty among immigrant and mixed-status families in the District of Columbia who are already struggling to put food on the table. The rule ignored comments submitted to DHS by D.C. Hunger Solutions and 724 other organizations that warned of the harm it would cause in deterring immigrants from accessing critical assistance for which they are eligible. This rule rescinds the 2022 public charge ground rule of inadmissibility regulations, and unravels decades of sound and settled public policy that distinguished between public benefits that could be used without immigration consequences and those that could not. 

For more than two decades, U.S. immigration officials have explicitly reassured that participation in federal nutrition programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) would not affect the ability to become lawful permanent residents. Yet the rule now reverses longstanding existing policy and practice meant to interpret the public charge law. The rule also reverses decades of progress in reducing hunger and poverty and presents a significant threat to the food security, health, economic security, and well-being of Washington, D.C., residents. 

​Nutrition programs are an investment in the health, well-being, and development of communities, and provide a critical safety net for thousands of District residents. No parent in the District of Columbia should have to decide between feeding their child and pursuing lawful immigration status. D.C. Hunger Solutions urges Congress to take action by passing the  LIFT the BAR Act, which would restore access to SNAP and other public programs by eliminating the five-year bar and other restrictions that deny critical care and assistance to lawfully present immigrants. We must continue to put food over fear to ensure every eligible child and family in our nation’s capital can access the nutrition programs they need to thrive. Hunger can’t wait. 

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D.C. Hunger Solutions, an initiative of the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), is dedicated to ending hunger and improving nutrition, health, and economic security for low-income residents of Washington, D.C. The organization works to strengthen nutrition programs, advance public policies, and educate the public about hunger and its solutions.