The Trump administration is proposing to change how the federal government assesses who should be barred from getting a green card or immigrating to the United States because they are likely to become a “public charge.” This term has been in U.S. immigration law for more than a century and has generally meant someone who is mainly reliant on the government for basic needs.
In a proposed rule issued in November, the administration seeks to remove provisions it says “straight-jacket” officers making public-charge assessments. By rescinding all prior regulatory specificity about how public charge is defined—and 26 years of precedent governing which benefits use should be considered—the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would give frontline officers vast discretion in applying the law.
The withdrawal of earlier federal guidance would mean that service providers could no longer provide any bright-line instruction to immigrant families about which public benefits are safe to access without harming future immigration options and which are not. The rule leaves open the possibility that even use of Head Start, free school lunch, care at Community Health Centers, or other programs could hurt future green-card applications.
If finalized as written, the administration’s sweeping moves could also jeopardize the use of public benefits by the U.S.-citizen children of immigrants. The proposed rule would eliminate current (and past) language that states the use of public benefits by family members does not count against green-card applicants.
The likely result will be that many immigrant families will be afraid to access any public benefits for which a household member is eligible, forgoing supports in times of need to preserve future immigration prospects. {snip}
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