Eblis/iStock(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration announced a new rule on Monday that could curb legal immigration by limiting who is allowed into the United States based on whether they are “self-sufficient,” according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has changed the scope of the so-called public charge rule to now “incorporate consideration of more kinds of public benefits received,” according to a news release from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The rule includes individuals “who receives one or more designated public benefits for more than 12 months, in the aggregate, within any 36-month period (such that, for instance, receipt of two benefits in one month counts as two months),” the release said.
Certain forms of Medicaid, Social Security Income and Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) — or food stamps — are all considered as public benefits under the new rule, among other things.
“For over a century, the public charge ground of inadmissibility has been part of our nation’s immigration laws. President Trump has delivered on his promise to the American people to enforce long-standing immigration law by defining the public charge inadmissibility ground that has been on the books for years,” said USCIS Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli in a statement.
“Throughout our history, self-sufficiency has been a core tenet of the American dream. Self-reliance, industriousness, and perseverance laid the foundation of our nation and have defined generations of hardworking immigrants seeking opportunity in the United States ever since. Through the enforcement of the public charge inadmissibility law, we will promote these long-standing ideals and immigrant success,” he added.
The final rule is part of the Trump administration’s broad immigration platform that has continuously pushed for hard-line policies. It also comes just a week after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement descended on seven work sites in Mississippi in what officials called the largest, single-state immigration enforcement action in history.
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