The Biden Administration has put an end to the 2019 “public charge” restriction on green cards thus dislodging the center piece of the Trump administration’s actions to defer legal immigration. The “public charge” term was first included in U.S. law in the early 1880’s, with the federal government regulating immigration and banning most Chinese immigrants with the pretext that they “endangered the good order” of American communities. The Trump administration then further expanded this to effectively mean anyone being an economic burden on the country by showing how it would support “self-sufficiency” among the immigrants in the United States.
On February 2, 2021 President Biden, through Executive order 14012, directed the DHS to review the actions of the department with relation to the “public charge grounds of inadmissibility”. This has resulted in halting of the implementation of the Trump-era 2019 “public charge” regulation, which gave U.S. Officials a major discretion to reject green card applications from immigrants with a slight chance of depending on public benefits like medical aids, food stamps or housing, was strongly denounced by advocates.
As part of the DHS review, it was determined that defending this rule against a plethora of lawsuits gathered from various jurisdictions and advocacy groups was “neither in the public interest nor an efficient use of limited government resources.”
Soon after the Justice Department’s actions, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal of one of the district court rulings against the green card restrictions, restoring the suspension of the policy. Thus, the DHS shall be reverting to the Clinton-era policies that considered immigrants public charges based on if they are receiving government cash benefits or long-term medical care.
While the DHS continues to review all such regulations brought about by the Trump administration, a formal revocation of the 2019 rule is much in cards and looked forward to.
Disclaimer
This article aims to provide new information concerning the public charge rule. This article, under no circumstances, acts as legal advice; therefore, for any immigration questions, please contact your Attorney or the Ahluwalia Law Offices, P.C. (Team ALO).
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