TROY - Dalila Yeend is caught in a Catch-22: She can't work because she is undocumented but she can't receive public benefits without the risk of jeopardizing her green card application. She fears she could be further squeezed by proposed federal regulations.

Sitting on her couch in her home in Griswold Heights the night before the season's first snowstorm, Yeend explained that she recently got rid of her land line to save money.

"But what if we get robbed?" Yeend's son, Taki, a wiry nine-year-old stretched out on the carpet watching TV, piped in.

"Nobody's gonna rob us," Yeend said and shook her head with a smile.

"We have nothing to rob." Taki grinned back.

Yeend, a 36-year-old originally from Australia, has lived in the U.S. since she was 17. She made headlines in May when she was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement following a traffic stop for rolling through a stop sign in Troy. The single mother of two spent two and a half months in immigration detention near Buffalo and was released in August.

Early this month, she applied for work authorization and a green card based on her approved petition as a domestic violence survivor. At immigration court on Nov. 19, her deportation case was dismissed.

She won't be deported now but she has to wait up to a year for an answer on her green card application. While she can apply for food stamps, her lawyer, Siana McLean, advised her against it because it could affect her eligibility to get a green card.

Currently under immigration law, an immigrant isn't eligible to get a green card if the government judges he or she is likely to receive cash benefits in the future — often determined by whether they've already received them in the past.

"Self-sufficiency has long been a basic principle of United States immigration law," the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website reads. The idea is that immigrants who are on welfare shouldn't become permanent residents because they'll be a "public charge."

The Trump administration is considering a proposal to tighten restrictions to include non-cash benefits like food stamps, public housing vouchers and rent assistance, and health insurance.

Advocates argue the proposed stricter change ensures immigrants aren't living off the system while critics say it would penalize the poor.

"I feel like we're backed into a corner," Yeend said. "I don't want any assistance, I want to go to work, I have a job, and even if I didn't have a job, I'd be happy to go out and get a job."

Yeend made $300 to $400 a week at Dunkin' Donuts for the past three years before she was detained. Her lawyer said it could be three to five more months before she gets permission to work again.

"I'm very self-sufficient, but without my work authorization, I can't prove that to the government right now," she said. "If you want me to prove that I'm not going to be on the system, then allow me to work."

Yeend's two children, who are U.S. citizens, can receive public benefits. Right now, the family lives off $750 a month in Supplemental Security Income (SSI) because Taki was diagnosed with hyperactivity and a seizure disorder. Yeend pays $380 a month for a cozy three-bedroom apartment with walls covered in family photos in Troy's subsidized public housing.

That leaves less than $400 for food, toiletries, transportation and utilities. Yeend can't get a driver's license because she's undocumented, so she hitches rides or takes the bus.

Friends drop by groceries and Yeend visits food pantries to supplement her shopping. She recently had to buy new winter coats for her kids after they outgrew last years'. In return she was able to reduced her internet bill by $50 and ditched her house phone.

The family's income is only half of the $20,780 a year federal poverty threshold for a household of three. Still, Yeend is more fortunate than others like her because she's received significant community support: a GoFundMe for the family has raised nearly $8,000.

"Without the GoFundMe, I don't think we would be able to survive at all," Yeend said.

For people like Yeend, proposed changes to immigration policy could be even more crippling. Although she isn't sure how or if she'll be affected, her lawyer urged her to be cautious and not get food stamps just in case. Capital Region immigration attorneys say many of their clients similarly could be barred from essential benefits or opt out even if they're eligible because they're afraid.

Under the federal government's proposal, immigrants wouldn't be eligible to get a visa or green card if they're likely to receive cash benefits, food stamps or public housing vouchers worth more than 15 percent of the federal poverty threshold for 12 months. Immigrants would also be ineligible if they're likely to receive 12 months of non-cash benefits like Medicaid within a 36-month period. If they might receive a cash benefit below the threshold plus one or more non-cash benefit for more than nine months, it could be held against them too.

The rule doesn't extend to benefits like emergency medical assistance, disaster relief, school lunch or the head start education program. It doesn't apply to people resettled as refugees or those who received asylum, victims of domestic violence, trafficking or other crimes, and Afghans or Iraqis who helped the military. It also doesn't affect those applying for citizenship.

The proposed change has left a cloud of confusion. Capital Region lawyers say they are receiving anxious calls from clients not sure what to do.

"If you want to apply down the road to legalize your status, you might not take advantage of life-saving and critical benefits because you fear that it may one day come back to haunt you," said Sarah Rogerson, director of the Immigration Law Clinic at Albany Law School. "It's another attack on poverty. It's a way to try to exclude certain individuals from the immigration system that this administration deems to be undesirable."

Andrew Arthur, fellow for the Center for Immigration Studies that describes itself as "low- immigration, pro-immigrant," argued that immigrants are expected to "pull their own weight." He said a majority of would-be immigrants come from some of the poorest countries in the world and if they do migrate, make it harder for American workers to find low-wage jobs.

The Center for Immigration Studies said that according to the government's proposal, one in five immigrants are using public assistance. They said that if implemented, the Department of Homeland Security predicts that more than 300,000 people would leave welfare programs, saving the government $1.5 billion a year.

Opposing research by the National Academy of Sciences, cited by the Cato Institute, estimates the average recent immigrant pays up to $150,000 more in taxes than they receive in benefits over their lifetime.

Sam Fein, an Albany County legislator who represents the city's South End, said some of his constituents would be hurt by the change.

"These are mostly working families. They aren't families who are trying to live off the system," Fein said. "These are people who are contributing back to the system and coming here to make a better life for themselves."

The federal government has a public comment period on the proposed change until Dec. 10. Fein introduced a resolution for the county to submit an official comment condemning the policy. The County Legislature will vote on the resolution on Dec. 3.

With the holiday season upon her, Yeend is trying to make ends meet for her kids as she waits for work authorization. One recent evening after school, Taki and his 11-year-old sister Savannah, ate pasta on disposable plates at home — Savannah's with tomato sauce, Taki's with plain cheese. She sat at the table while Taki bounced between the kitchen and living room, before he calmed down cradled in his mother's arms on the couch.

"I'm concerned for my kids and giving them a good Christmas because they've had a hard year," Yeend said. "I try to make my kids' life as normal as possible so that they're not struggling."