September 11, 2019
The Honorable Jamie Raskin
Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee Committee on Oversight and Reform
U.S. House of Representatives
2157 Rayburn House Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Chip Roy
Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee
Committee on Oversight and Reform
U.S. House of Representatives
2157 Rayburn House Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20515
RE: Hearing on “The Administration’s Apparent Revocation of Medical Deferred Action for Critically Ill Children”
Dear Chairman Raskin and Ranking Member Roy,
Thank you for holding the September 11, 2019 hearing on the Administration’s Apparent Revocation of Medical Deferred Action for Critically Ill Children. The undersigned organizations urge U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to reverse its decision to stop considering visa applications based on medical deferred action for people who have a serious health condition, and for Congress to make the program permanent.
In August, without prior warning to waiting applicants or any public notice, families around the country began receiving letters from USCIS denying visa renewal applications to stay in the U.S. up to two years at a time while their critically ill child receives medically-necessary, life-saving treatment. Worse yet, the letters provided no information about how to appeal the decision, giving each family a scant 33 days to leave the country or risk removal proceedings and a bar on any future return to the U.S. American healthcare innovation, acute care providers, and medical research is renowned all over the world. Medical deferred action allows the families of children with disabilities and chronic conditions to support their kids through life-sustaining, but difficult surgeries and treatments that are simply not available in their home countries.
For decades, medical deferment has been a humanitarian and generous act of the U.S. government to a small number of annual applicants, and historically has not provided a route to permanent residence or citizenship. The entire reason for medical deferment is to preserve life. In addition, many of the individuals that have benefited, such as Isabel Bueso, have participated in clinical trials and contributed to invaluable medical discoveries. The foreseeable and inevitable consequence of eliminating medical deferment is ending life, whether in a hurried disastrous attempt to leave the U.S., through the deterioration of health in another country, or harm to medical research in the U.S.
USCISÂ effectively issued death penalties to disabled children whose only “crime” is needing unique medical care. This decision is cruel under any circumstance, but by issuing it at the same time as the final “public charge” rule that forces immigrant families to choose between their chances at a green card and life-sustaining healthcare, food, and housing, this Administration signals its belief that disabled people do not have lives worth living. As Americans with disabilities and organizations that advocate for disability rights, we have repeatedly shown the fallacy of this discriminatory view.
It is unconscionable that this action by our government has caused disabled children and young adults to despair and fear for their lives. While the letters from USCIS gave no viable choices to the families who received them, Congress can change that by passing legislation to make medical deferred action a permanent process that will be granted as long as there is ongoing need for medical services that are unavailable in a country of origin. Moreover, medical deferment should include an opportunity to apply for permanent residence.
No disabled child or adult or their family should face the certainty of death through deportation because of a change in leadership in Washington D.C. Let us not fool ourselves that their fight is not ours as well. We urge you to support Isabel and others affected as they tell their story at this Wednesday’s hearing.
We appreciate the opportunity to share our views with the Subcommittee, and we look forward to working with you to save the lives of disabled children and adults who are in this country because of the hope we offer.
Sincerely,
American Association of People with Disabilities
Autistic Self Advocacy Network
Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
Caring Across Generations
Center for Public Representation
Council of Administrators of Special Education
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund
Epilepsy Foundation
Learning Disabilities Association of America
Little Lobbyists
National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities
National Council on Independent Living
Not Dead Yet
Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies
The Arc of the United States
United Spinal Association
United States International Council on Disabilities