Resource Manual for Advocates Working with Immigrants
August 13, 2009
Resources for Advocates Working with Immigrants in Need of Medical Assistance--a manual describing the immigrant eligibility rules of New York’s several medical assistance programs authored by Barbara Weiner, senior staff attorney at the Empire Justice Center, and published by the Community Health Care Association of New York State is available on the Empire Justice Center website. The manual covers program eligibility rules as well as addressing other issues of concern to immigrants, including confidentiality, public charge consequences of using public benefits and immigrant sponsor liability. Read More

New York State Court of Appeals - Legal Aliens Not Entitled to State Benefits at Level Given U.S. Citizens
August 13, 2009
On May 12, 2009, the New York State Court of Appeals issued a decision in Khrapunskiy v. Doar, 12 N.Y.3d 478 (2009), a class action case addressing the level of assistance the state is obligated to provide to elderly, blind and disabled legal immigrants who have been rendered ineligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) because of their immigration status. Read More

Immigrant Eligibility Chart
January 2, 2009
The Immigrant Benefit Eligibility chart now includes the provisions of the SSI Extension for Elderly and Disabled Refugees Act of 2008. Read More

MKB v. Eggleston Settled
Court Retains Jurisdiction Over Action for Four Years
August 1, 2007
On December 13, 2005 a class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, on behalf of a class of lawful immigrants whose applications for assistance had been systematically and unlawfully denied by the Human Resources Administration (HRA). Read More

State Ends Aid for Battered and Elderly Legal Immigrants
October 1, 2005
New York State quietly pulled the plug on a small but critical food assistance program which, because of bureaucratic neglect and mismanagement, never delivered on its promise to provide state funded food stamps to elderly immigrants and to immigrants victimized by domestic violence. Read More

The Court Grants Summary Judgment to the Plaintiffs in Teytelman v. Wing
April 1, 2005
On February 5, 2005, Judge Diamond of the Supreme Court, New York County, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in Teytelman v. Wing (Index No. 402767/02.) The Teytelman plaintiffs challenged various immigration related restrictions in the State’s Food Assistance Program (FAP), including the requirement that, to be eligible, the applicant must have been residing in the U.S. on August 22, 1996. The plaintiffs are elderly immigrants and immigrant victims of domestic violence who entered the country after that date. Read More

Implementation of the Food Stamp Eligibility and Certification Provisions of the 2002 Farm Bill
June 1, 2004
A companion article in this issue of the LSJ discusses the publication of proposed federal regulations by the Food and Nutrition Services of the United States Department of Agriculture (FNS) that implement the provisions of the 2002 food stamp reauthorization legislation expanding the eligibility of immigrants for food stamp benefits. See this issue, page 8. The food stamp reauthorization provisions were a part of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (FSRIA). Read More

USDA Issues Proposed Food Stamp Regulations Implementing Immigrant Provisions of the 2002 Farm Bill
June 1, 2004
On April 16, 2004, the Food and Nutrition Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (FNS) issued proposed regulations implementing the food stamp program provisions of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (FSRIA). See 69 Fed. Reg. 20724, et seq. The 2002 re-authorization of the food stamp program and amendments to its rules was only a small, and relatively inexpensive, part of FSRIA, which dealt primarily with the setting of agricultural subsidy amounts and other major agribusiness related policies. Read More

Legal Services Corporation Expands Categories of Non-citizens Who May Be Represented
December 1, 2003
On September 29, the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) issued a Final Rule, adding to the immigrant classifications eligible to receive services from field legal services programs set out in the Appendix to 45 CFR Part 1626, the regulation which sets forth the limits on services to non-citizens. Read More

Elderly Immigrants and Immigrant Victims of Domestic Violence Score Win in Challenge to State’s Food Stamp Program
December 1, 2003
In a stunning decision issued on December 8, 2003, Judge Marilyn Diamond of the Supreme Court, New York County, ruled that the State’s restrictions on the access of lawful, qualified immigrants to the State’s Food Assistance Program (FAP) violate state and federal Equal Protection guarantees. Read More