House and Senate Immigration Leaders Rebuke Trump DHS Proposal That Would Punish Immigrant Families for Lawfully Accessing Health Care and Food Assistance
Proposed “Public Charge” Rule Defies Congress, Threatens Public Health, and Would Make America Sicker and Poorer Washington, D.C. -- House and Senate immigration leaders submitted a formal regulatory comment to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) opposing the Trump Administration’s proposed “Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility” rule, warning that the proposal unlawfully rewrites longstanding immigration law and would deter immigrant families from accessing basic health, nutrition, and housing assistance they are legally entitled to receive. The proposed rule would circumvent Congress to alter the meaning of “public charge,” a term that for more than 135 years has applied only to individuals who are primarily dependent on the government for subsistence. If an immigrant is determined likely to become a public charge, it can affect their eligi...