Supreme Court rules could deny green cards to immigrants on public assistance staring February 24, 2020

The Supreme Court just handed President Trump a huge win and the Democrats a devastating loss.

• New US rule to Reshape legal immigration
• New Trump rules could deny green cards to immigrants on public assistance
• Bad news for Indians on H-1B visa
• The public charge rule allows immigration officials to decide whether someone can enter the U.S. based on their socioeconomic status. 

"Public Charge" No medical care, food, shelter and other basic necessities, or are predicted to use them in the future.

Los Angeles, Feb. 23, 2020
NRIpress.club/Ramesh/ A.Gary Singh Grewal

On Friday, February 22, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Trump administration by 5-4 court greenlighted the so-called "public charge" rule across the country. It means Supreme Court is allowing a rule that would make it more difficult for immigrants to obtain legal status if they use public benefits like food stamps and housing vouchers to go into effect in every state.

US Citizenship and Immigration Services says it will implement the rule on Monday, February 24

The public charge rule allows immigration officials to decide whether someone can enter the U.S. based on their socioeconomic status. 

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, would make it harder for immigrants who are “likely at any time to become a public charge” to obtain green cards.
New Rule discourages legal immigrants in the process of obtaining permanent legal status or citizenship from using public assistance, including Medicaid, housing vouchers and food stamps.

Stephanie Ann Grisham, an American White House official who serves as the 30th White House press secretary and as the current White House communications director said:

The White House on Saturday praised the Supreme Court's ruling.

We are gratified by the Supreme Court ruling on Friday night lifting the final remaining injunction on the public charge regulation

This final rule will protect hardworking American taxpayers, safeguard welfare programs for truly needy Americans, reduce the Federal deficit, and re-establish the fundamental legal principle that newcomers to our society should be financially self-reliant and not dependent on the largess of United States taxpayers.

Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Ken Cuccinelli has described the rule as simply verifying that immigrants “can stand on their two feet.”

The rule was published in August 2019 and expected to take effect in October 2019. Multiple lawsuits were filed, and several federal courts issued injunctions, temporarily stopping the rule from being implemented while the cases made their way through the courts.
In January 2020, the Supreme Court lifted the remaining nationwide injunction, meaning the rule change can now be implemented.

New rule will not into effect on current PRs who already taking Medicaid, SNAP, and housing benefits:

It went into effect on February 24, 2020, however, Medicaid, SNAP, and housing benefits used before this date will not be considered under the new rule.

 11%  non-citizen Indian families receive public benefits and now they will now be under the scanner.

Federal law already requires those seeking green cards and legal status to prove they will not become a “public charge,” or a burden on the U.S. 

The “public charge” inadmissibility test was established by the U.S. Congress in 1883 and allowed the U.S. government to deny a person a green card, an extension of a visa or admission into the U.S.

• When deciding whether to grant an applicant a green card or an extension of a visa, an immigration officer must determine whether the individual is likely to become a public charge, that is, primarily dependent on the government for support.
• DHS makes the determination based on the individual’s ‘totality of circumstances,’ which includes the individual’s age, health, family status, financial status, education and skills, as well as family members who may support them. Thus, no one factor is used to determine whether someone can be deemed likely to become a public charge. 

It is important to note that the concept of public charge is not defined in statute. Since 1999 the INS adopted the guiding principle that public charge is someone “primarily dependent on the government for subsistence,” as demonstrated by either using federal or state public cash assistance or institutionalization for long-term care at government expense.

Under the new rules, benefits previously excluded from the public charge determination will only be considered if the applicant received them after the date of implementation (yet to be determined.

.  Which Public Benefits Will Be Excluded From the New Public Charge Determination?

Benefits excluded from the public charge determination include:

• Child Health Plus
• Medicare Part D Extra Help
• Qualified Health Plans on the Marketplace*
• Essential Plan in NYS
• Disaster relief
• WIC
• National school lunch programs
• Foster care and adoption
• Student and mortgage loans
• Energy assistance (HEAP)
• Food pantries or soup kitchens
• Homeless shelters, and
• Head Start, among others

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August 12, 2019
NRIpress.club/Ramesh/ A.Gary Singh

The Trump administration’s new rule would disqualify or deny green cards/ permanent residency to legal immigrants if they use certain public-assistance programs such as Medicaid, food stamps, housing vouchers - Section 8 housing assistance or any other forms of public assistance.

Immigration officials will consider the “totality of circumstances” when determining whether to deny green cards or bar prospect immigrants from entry.
This rule could dramatically cut the number of legal immigrants allowed to enter and stay in the US by making it easier to reject green card and visa applications.

This rule could dramatically cut the number of legal immigrants allowed to enter and stay in the US by making it easier to reject green card and visa applications.
The rule means many green card and visa applicants could be turned down if they have low incomes or little education.

The use or potential use of a benefits program such as Medicaid, some types of housing assistance or food stamps could disqualify an applicant. The biggest users of social services are non-immigrants, something which seems to be lost in a government narrative of public assistance. About 56% of all family-based green card applicants could be denied under this rule.

"Through the public charge rule, President Trump's administration is re-enforcing the ideal of self-sufficiency and personal responsibility, ensuring that immigrants are able to support themselves and become successful in America," acting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director Ken Cuccinelli said.
The Center for Immigration Studies, which favors lower levels of immigration, found in 2015 Opens a New Window.  that the average household headed by an immigrant costs $6,234 per year in taxpayer-funded benefits.

For Example, in California:

• disenrollment from CalFresh and Medi-cal would most significantly affect Latinos (85-88%) and Asians (7-8%).
• If people dis-enroll from Medi-Cal, the biggest loss would be seen in healthcare jobs- 17,500 California jobs would no longer exist
• 47% of those lost jobs would come from the healthcare sector.
• Federal support for Medi-Cal at $1.19 billion and CalFresh at $488 million, as they projected that people would dis-enroll out of concern for losing their legal status.

The new rule will go into effect in mid-October and won’t apply retroactively.

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