The rule that struck fear in immigrant families is on the way out.

Almost three years ago, the Trump administration took aim at immigrants by upending and effectively weaponizing an existing rule known as public charge, requiring them to prove they could support themselves without public benefits before qualifying for a green card or citizenship. Even before the rule took effect in February 2020 amid numerous legal challenges, the very discussion of it had a chilling effect, prompting families to withdraw from services they were legitimately entitled to, like assistance for food or housing and Medi-Cal.

It’s unknown exactly how many Monterey County residents withdrew, but within a year after the public charge change was proposed in 2018, at least 7,700 Medi-Cal clients in the county left the system. Immigration advocates say their clients feared they would never be allowed citizenship, or worse, be deported if they applied for benefits. It put the health of families and the public at risk, says Francine Rodd, executive director of First 5 Monterey County, which serves families.

That rule is now on its way out. On Feb. 2, President Joe Biden signed an executive order that requires federal agencies to reevaluate the public charge rule and develop strategies that promote inclusion instead of exclusion.

On March 9, the Biden administration withdrew appeals to specific legal challenges, including at the Supreme Court, prompting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to immediately announce it was no longer considering an applicant’s receipt of Medicaid, public housing or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. In a statement, USCIS said it’s reverting the rule back to placing the burden of support on the person sponsoring an immigrant and not on the immigrants themselves.

Other federal agencies are still reviewing Biden’s order as it pertains to them, but already local immigrants are reaching out for help. A spokesperson for Catholic Charities Diocese of Monterey, which assists people applying for benefits as well as citizenship, says clients have been “calling nonstop” since the announcement.

Rodd is philosophical about a new era. “We have not really appreciated and valued the communities that have come to our country and worked in our fields and supported our economy,” she says. “They have had to live in the shadows in fear and to me, that’s not the country that the Statue of Liberty beckons.”