This letter reiterates long standing federal policies that immigrants cannot be denied access to certain services necessary to protect life and safety based on their immigration status.

This letter reiterates that immigrants experiencing homelessness, victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, stalking or human trafficking may not be turned away on the basis of immigration status from life and safety services including but not limited to emergency shelters, and short-term housing assistance (including transitional housing and rapid re-housing), crisis counseling and intervention, soup kitchens, community food banks, and medical and public health services.

Importantly, this Tri-Agency letter describes the non-discrimination requirements that apply to all federal grantees and the application of these protections to cases involving immigrants.