Clarification regarding “public charge” for immigration purposes. The Notice includes a USCIS Fact Sheet, which provides general information and specifically states that Food Stamp benefits is not a “public cash assistance program for income maintenance,” that would trigger public charge considerations. After very helpful information about why immigrants fear seeking benefits, DSS encourages the counties to work with immigrant community partners to produce a county-developed flyer to better inform and reduce the potential of eligible households
not applying for food stamp benefits due to misinformation. The state also suggests counties share this information with noncitizen households at application and recertification to help alleviate the fear of being considered a “public charge” in the Food Stamp Program. [Download]
Summaries of select CalWORKs, CalFresh, Health and Housing Regulations