Op-ed: I am a public servant, not a public charge

By David Ureña, Public Rights Project Fellow – In October, three federal judges blocked a Trump administration effort to prevent hard-working, low-income immigrants from getting public assistance. Although the administration has appealed these rulings, this is a win for immigrants, citizens, and the American dream. I am a product of that dream — and of public assistance. In 1975, at age 25, my mother emigrated from the Dominican Republic to the United States. She moved in with relatives in Jamaica, Queens. Her first job was in the garment industry in lower Manhattan, trimming excess thread off clothing. A few months later, Leviton Manufacturing Company hired her to work on an assembly line in Brooklyn. She was a union worker with a steady paycheck, and eventually, rented her own apartment with her sister.