LOS ANGELES – A celebration is underway outside a legal center’s offices in Perris. There is a band, balloons, confetti and a taco stand. It isn’t a birthday, or an anniversary, it’s a healthcare party.

It is a part of new reality for undocumented immigrants like Mariana’s sister, Bertha, who has Thyroid Cancer.

“She was diagnosed with this disease five years ago, but she could never get treated because hospital bills were really expensive,” Mariana said.

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Mariana and Bertha work in the fields picking vegetables, and they each have a kid, so the cancer diagnosis in her 24-year-old sister was a devastating blow.

“She was really scared because she didn’t want to die, she didn’t want to leave her daughter alone,” says Mariana.

But everything changed January 1, 2020.

“My sister couldn’t be here today but I’m here talking for her,” says Mariana in front of a podium, speaking to a crowd and television cameras. “She is in the hospital right now receiving her treatment thanks to this new healthcare law that passed.”

The law, Senate Bill 104, which went into effect at the beginning of the year, expanded Medi-Cal benefits to undocumented individuals between 19 to 25 years old.

That is why they are celebrating, and it’s why TODEC legal center, a non-profit serving immigrants in Riverside, San Bernardino, and Imperial County since 1984, has brought Molina Healthcare and Inland Empire Health Plan to this event in Perris; to make sure the undocumented population in this area is taking advantage of the healthcare expansion.

But 80 miles away in Beverly hills a mother and son from El Salvador are meeting with their lawyer.

“Thank you for coming in today to get some clarity on public charge,” says immigration lawyer Edward Pilot.

His client Miguel, a high-schooler, is here legally. His mother isn’t. He was enrolled in Medi-Cal for about a year, until the moment he got a call from Pilot telling him to drop the benefits.

“My lawyer told me that if I kept using my Medi-Cal I could be considered a public charge,” says Miguel.

Public charge is a Trump administration rule as of February 24, 2020, it states that if immigrants lean on government services, like Medi-Cal, Food Stamps or housing vouchers, they could be considered a burden on taxpayers, and the department of homeland security will consider that when you apply for residency or citizenship. There are some exceptions to this rule, including for refugees and asylum seekers. But many lawyers are not taking a chance, even if their clients fall into the supposed exempt category they’re urging them to get off the benefits.

So while undocumented individuals might not see the urgency in getting off the benefits because a legal status may seem improbable for them, for those on a pathway to citizenship, this rule could make or break their future in this country.

“Right now I’m not receiving any service because I don’t have access, I’m scared that if I use the benefits it will affect me in the future,” says Miguel.

Back in Perris, Mariana is asked what she thinks about legal immigrants having to get off Medi-Cal while undocumented people get access; she says it’s not fair.

“It’s really sad because everything is pretty expensive, and they have to either not go to the doctors, and they’re not going to be treated and it’s really sad for them,” said Mariana.

Sad because some people were kicked out of the healthcare party.