Democrats call on Trump to pull rule limiting green cards for people on public benefits
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More than 125 Democrats in Congress are pressing the Trump administration to withdraw a proposed rule that would open the door to denying a green card to a person using public assistance, including Medicaid or food stamps.
“This proposal penalizes families for caring for their children. It would alienate parents from the health care, food assistance, and early education to which U.S. citizen children are legally entitled, putting children at risk and destabilizing entire communities,” Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said in a statement to The Hill.
“Congress never intended for public impeachment to be used in this way, and we demand that DHS withdraw this harmful proposal before it causes real and lasting harm to American families,” Espaillat said. he added.
The Department of Homeland Security’s proposal would rescind a rule passed in 2022 under the Biden administration that revived a longstanding but relatively narrow definition of “public liability.”
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DHS’s proposal would rescind a rule passed in 2022 under the Biden administration that revived a longstanding but relatively narrow definition of “public responsibility.” (Getty Images)
The 2022 rule defined a “public charge” as someone who is “primarily dependent on government assistance,” particularly those who receive cash assistance to maintain their income or receive nursing home care at government expense. Most non-cash benefits, such as Medicaid and food stamps, were not counted in determining the public charge under this rule.
DHS’s new proposal argues that the Biden-ere policy is a “straitjacket” for immigration officials, preventing them from considering “all factors and information relevant to the likelihood that an alien will become a public criminal at any time.”
Opponents of the Trump administration’s proposed rule change fear it would open the door to widespread denials of green cards to people who would otherwise qualify, out of concerns it could impact green card applications and lead to immigrants not seeking assistance for which they might be eligible.
If the proposal is finalized, the Trump administration will not have a formal definition of what public impeachment means. This would give immigration authorities broader discretion to consider a broader set of factors and potentially additional types of benefits when determining what constitutes a public charge, moving away from the narrow “primarily dependent” factor included in the 2022 rule.
According to The Hill, 127 Democrats called on the federal government to abandon the proposal, saying the rule would create “immediate and widespread uncertainty.”
Democratic lawmakers argue in their official comments that immigration officers would have to make a public wage determination with little guidance.
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DHS’s new proposal argues that the Biden-ere policy is a “straitjacket” for immigration officials. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty Images)
“Removing these definitions invites arbitrary decision-making and creates a significant risk that arbitrators will rely on factors not authorized by Congress,” the lawmakers wrote to DHS.
“The proposed rule contains no assurance that arbitrators will refrain from considering benefits received during periods when the federal government has made clear that such benefits have no immigration consequences.” they continued.
Lawmakers also said the proposed rule opens the door to penalizing people who previously benefited from aid programs when they were not at risk of accessing the benefits.
“Families seeking changes to their status, including refugees, survivors of domestic violence or human trafficking, abused, neglected or abandoned children, and others whom Congress has long exempted from criminal civil charge treatment, cannot navigate a system where rules change without warning and where lawful behavior that the federal government has stated is permissible in the past can be reinterpreted as a negative factor,” they wrote.
“To be very clear, the proposed rule would trigger a major chilling effect, alienating eligible families from essential benefits in health, nutrition, child care, and education, with the brunt of harm falling on U.S. citizen children,” the lawmakers wrote. he said.
Democrats said the proposed rule opens the door to penalizing people who previously used aid programs even though they were not at risk of accessing the benefits. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Another Democratic group also submitted comments objecting to the plan to change the long-standing definition of civil indictment.
Rep. Jaime Raskin, D-Md. and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the top Democrat on their respective chambers’ Judiciary committees, said, “Since the term was first enacted as an immigration restriction in 1882, it has consistently been interpreted to mean a person who is, or is likely to be, primarily dependent on the government for his or her care (i.e., someone who is effectively a ‘custodian’ or ward of the government).” There are additional lawmakers, according to The Hill.
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“Over the years, the method of determining such ‘primary dependency’ has changed, but the principle itself remains unchanged,” they added.
Under the 2019 public charge rule issued during Trump’s first term, immigration officials were instructed to reject applicants who used public programs.
