John,

The Trump administration is proposing a rule that will make it harder for immigrants to apply for green cards by opening the application process to arbitrary denials and political bias.

Last month, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a Notice of Public Rulemaking to rescind a Biden-era rule on the “public charge” provision affecting lawfully present immigrants applying for green cards. Currently, the public charge provision (that is, whether a person seeking permanent status in the U.S. will require long-term public expenditures to support them) considers whether a green card applicant has ever received cash assistance or long-term nursing home care through Medicaid.

While the Trump administration hasn’t issued a current replacement for the rule, it has instead insisted that further guidance will come later, without input from the American people.

The potential harm of this rescission cannot be overstated. Immigrant families make up 27% of the U.S. population, with almost half of the people in these families U.S. citizens―mostly children.¹

We only have until this Friday to submit our official comments against this xenophobic policy change. Click here to submit your comment and consider personalizing to make your comment stand out.

By revoking the current regulation, DHS will be allowed to reject green card applicants based on obesity or any other personal characteristic the administration decides to consider, as well as the use of unspecified services. And in a drastic expansion of the administration's discretion, DHS proposes considering whether anyone in the applicant's family has used human needs programs or has health or economic histories disfavored by the administration―even citizen children or other family members who are eligible for the services they’ve signed up for.

During the first Trump administration, a similar regulation change was struck down by a federal court. The effects of that change deterred immigrant families from seeking health care right at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.² The current proposed changes threaten to have the same chilling effect.

For almost 20 years, immigration officials have reassured immigrant families that signing their eligible children up for human needs programs such as SNAP, WIC, or other means-tested programs would not affect their ability to become a lawful permanent resident. The changes proposed by the Trump administration would reverse long-standing policy regarding the public charge regulation.

Join us in leaving a comment against this anti-immigrant policy change today.

Thank you for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, CHN Action

¹ Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States
² Advocates Hail Biden Regulation As Major Win For Immigrant Families, Urge Congress To Act