President Donald Trump’s Administration is rolling out a new rule that experts predict will make it more difficult for immigrants to get green cards if they access public assistance programs, such as Medicaid and food stamps—and could deter those hoping to obtain the status from enrolling in public benefits.
The rule, which goes into effect on Friday, updates a policy dating back to the 19th century that the U.S. has long used to prohibit immigrants who are believed to be likely to become a “public charge” from getting green cards.
Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has argued that the change “is restoring the basic principle that immigrants must be able to support themselves,” adding that it is “reaffirming the requirement of self-reliance, protecting public resources, and ending policies that encouraged dependency on hard-working American taxpayers.”
The rule marks the latest move in Trump’s efforts to sharply restrict both illegal and legal immigration. The President enacted a similar change during his first Administration, but the effort was subjected to court challenges and ultimately rescinded by his successor, Joe Biden.
The new rule has already been challenged in court by a coalition of more than a dozen states, including New York and California. It’s unclear at this point how the ongoing litigation will affect the rollout of the rule.
Here’s what to know about the new rule and how it could affect immigrants.
What is the “public charge” rule?
With its new policy, the Trump Administration is implementing a change to what’s known as the “public charge” rule, a policy first established under the Immigration Act of 1882. Since then, one factor that the U.S. government has considered when reviewing green card applications is whether the applicant is likely to become dependent on government assistance.
Historically, officials reviewing these types of applications have only taken into account cash benefit programs—for instance, Supplemental Security Income from Social Security—as “public benefits” that could lead to an immigrant being deemed a “public charge” and having their green card application denied. They have usually not deemed non-cash public benefits, such as Medicaid and food stamps, as programs that would disqualify an immigrant from obtaining permanent resident status.
During his first term in the White House, Trump tried to expand the programs that could result in an immigrant being deemed a “public charge,” but a federal judge eventually ruled that the policy had to be vacated, saying it had “numerous unexplained flaws” that made it “arbitrary and capricious.”
When former President Joe Biden was in office, he officially rescinded Trump’s rule and stipulated that non-cash benefits would not result in an immigrant being considered a “public charge.”
How is the Trump Administration’s new policy different from the long-standing “public charge” rule?
In July, the Trump Administration revealed that it was revoking the Biden-era policy and was rolling out a change similar to the one that failed during Trump’s first term. Under the new rule, officials reviewing green card applications are able to consider a broader scope of public benefit programs. The Trump Administration has noted that the new “public charge” rule does not apply to some immigrants—for instance, refugees.
The guidance, though, is vague—it doesn’t include a full list of the benefits that can be taken into consideration, saying only that immigration officers will be “using good judgment and discretion” and will be “making individualized, fact-specific public charge inadmissibility determinations, based on a totality of the alien’s circumstances.”
“Now, the officers who are reviewing and adjudicating these cases have much more discretion in how they make that determination—whether they believe the person is likely to become a public charge,” says Melissa Shepard, the legal services director at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center. “The difference now is that it’s a much broader analysis, whereas before it was a little more limited.”
Adriana Cadena, the executive director of the Protecting Immigrant Families Coalition, says she worries that, because the new policy is so broad, it “opens the door for abuses by immigration officials” during the green card application process.
“It’s going from having guidance and clarity and understanding to opening the door to any kinds of programs,” she says.
How could the Trump Administration’s new rule affect immigrants?
Immigration experts say that the new policy could result in more green card applications being rejected, as well as cause many immigrants to delay seeking permanent resident status.
Charles Kuck, an immigration lawyer and former national president of the American immigration Lawyers Association, says that he expects there will be “massive numbers of denials” of green card applications as this new policy is rolled out. He adds that he and his colleagues have heard from some of their clients that they plan to wait until after Trump leaves the White House before filing their green card applications.
People who do not have permanent resident status in the U.S. are not eligible for many public assistance programs, but experts also warn that the new rule could result in immigrants disenrolling from public benefit programs that they or their children are eligible for because they are afraid of potentially harming their chances of obtaining a green card in the future.
Experts are additionally concerned that the Trump Administration’s new rule opens the door to immigration officials taking into account whether a green card applicant’s family member used a public benefit. The new rule stipulates that “if there is evidence in the record the alien’s family members whom the alien is legally obligated to support receive means-tested public benefits based on the alien’s income falling below the designated threshold, DHS would consider that fact.”
Kuck says he fears that this could lead to a situation where, for example, if a green card applicant’s child who is a U.S. citizen receives a public benefit, such as a free school lunch program, that could lead to their parent’s application being denied.
According to Shepard, it’s not yet clear how exactly the new policy will be applied in practice because it is so broad and gives immigration officers “so much discretion.” But she says she believes the change will cause people to be “a lot more cautious” and potentially fearful to access public assistance programs.
Cadena says the new rule is “forcing families to choose between either being able to adjust their status in the future or be able to have access to essential programs like food and child care.”
“In the current environment that we are in, where immigrant family safety is constantly being threatened, immigrant families … want to be able to keep their families together,” Cadena says. “And if keeping their child enrolled in an important program like Medicaid is going to threaten that, then they would more than likely disenroll their children from these programs.”
DHS has previously estimated that the rollout of the “public charge” change could lead to more than 950,000 people disenrolling from or choosing not to enroll in public assistance programs.
The change is the latest action the Trump Administration has taken to restrict immigration, including ramping up efforts to limit several legal pathways to immigration and proposing raising the fees associated with applying for citizenship.
“This is just one small factor or small piece of the entire immigration system, I think, that is under attack,” Shepard says.
The post How a New Trump Administration Rule Could Restrict Access to Green Cards—and Confront Immigrants With a Tough Choice appeared first on TIME.
