Professor Medha D. Makhlouf coauthors article in The Conversation

CARLISLE, PA—Professor Medha D. Makhlouf coauthored an article published in The Conversation on July 28, 2026. She cowrote the piece, titled “Trump administration changes to ‘public charge’ rule could keep millions of immigrants – and their US citizen kids – from getting healthcare they need,” with Nicole Kreisberg, assistant professor of public policy at Penn State.

The article cites a new Department of Homeland Security rule (based on a reinterpretation of the Immigration Act of 1882) that allows immigration officers to weigh use of government benefits like Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by green card applicants or their relatives when deciding if someone might become a "public charge." The change may discourage eligible immigrant families from pursuing benefits they need and potentially harm their health.

You can read the article by clicking here.

Professor Medha D. Makhlouf is the Elsie de R. and Samuel P. Orlando Distinguished Professor and founding director of the Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic at Penn State Dickinson Law. She has a joint appointment in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Penn State College of Medicine. Professor Makhlouf’s research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of health law, immigrants’ rights, and poverty law and policy. Her recent scholarship has been published in the Boston University Law Review, New York University Law Review, and the Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law & Ethics. Professor Makhlouf is currently writing a book, tentatively titled Health Justice for Migrants, which is under contract with Cambridge University Press.