Health, Public Benefits, and Economic Supports in Immigration Reform

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1 Health, Public Benefits, and Economic Supports in Immigration Reform May 30, 2013 Tamar Magarik Haro, Assistant Director AAP Department of Federal Affairs

2 American Academy of Pediatrics The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is a professional organization of 60,000 pediatricians Dedicated to the health, safety, and well-being of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults since its founding in 1930 AAP has 66 Chapters in U.S. and Canada, at least one per state AAP maintains numerous organized sections and councils, for example: Adolescent Health Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery Child Abuse Pediatrics Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Gastroenterology Genetics and Birth Defects Hematology/Oncology Hepatology and Nutrition Infectious Diseases Nephrology Neurological Surgery Neurology Ophthalmology Orthopaedics Otolaryngology Pediatric Dentistry and Oral Health Pediatric Pulmonology Perinatal Pediatrics Plastic Surgery Radiology Rheumatology Urology Surgery

3 Who Are our Nation s Immigrants? As of 2011, there were approximately 40 million immigrants in the United States, accounting for nearly 13 percent of our nation s population 1. Of this number, 17.9 million are naturalized citizens and 22 million are non-citizens, including documented and undocumented individuals. Immigrants are a diverse group, ranging in age, family status, English proficiency, and race/ethnicity. The majority of immigrants (75 percent) have lived in the United States for at least 5 years. Half of immigrants are adults without dependent children, 41 percent of immigrants are parents, and the remaining 9 percent are children 1 The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation: Key Facts on Health Coverage for Low-Income Immigrants Today and Under the Affordable Care Act.

4 Who Are our Nation s Immigrants? Immigrants, regardless of legal status, work and pay taxes along with citizens. 83 percent of non-citizen immigrants are in working families, and non-citizens are just as likely to have at least one full-time worker in the family as citizens 2. Immigrant children are more likely to live in 2-parent families and have parents who work and work more hours compared with parents of US-born children. Households headed by undocumented immigrants collectively paid approximately $11.2 billion in state and local taxes 3. 2 The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation: Five Basic Facts on Immigrants and Their Health Care 3 The Immigration Policy Center: Unauthorized Immigrants Pay Taxes, Too

5 Immigrant Children in the U.S. One in every four children in the U.S. lives in an immigrant family. Since immigrant children represent a considerable part of our economic and social future, it is in our best interest to ensure they grow up to be physically and developmentally healthy million (or 1 in every 4) children lives with at least one immigrant parent. 89 percent of these children are themselves U.S. citizens. Children in immigrant families experience higher rates of poverty than children in non-immigrant families. In 2010, 30 percent of children in immigrant families lived below the federal poverty level, compared to only 19 percent of children with citizen parents. Children of immigrants are nearly twice as likely to be uninsured as are children of nonimmigrant families. 4 The American Academy of Pediatrics: Providing Care for Immigrant, Migrant and Border Children

6 Challenges for Immigrant Children Immigration imposes unique stresses on children and families, including separation from support systems, inadequate language skills, and depression, grief, or anxiety associated with migration and acculturation. Children from immigrant families, regardless of their own immigration status, face a variety of challenges to their health and well-being, including poverty, lack of health insurance, low educational attainment, substandard housing and language barriers. Although HHS has been charged with securing pro bono representation for unaccompanied children since 2008, only half of the 14,000 unaccompanied children who arrived in fiscal year 2012 secured this representation. This has resulted in a situation where young children are forced to represent themselves in immigration proceedings.

7 Questions Tamar Magarik Haro Assistant Director, AAP Department of Federal Affairs