by Donald Eng
HARTFORD, CT — A coalition of 22 states and the District of Columbia have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s new public charge rule, which they say would allow immigration officials to punish immigrants for lawful use of public benefits.
According to Attorney General William Tong, the new Department of Homeland Security policy would give immigration officers broad discretion to deny green cards based on use of public benefits. Tong and the coalition are asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to declare this rule unlawful.
“Trump is reviving a reviled scare tactic from his first failed administration,” Tong said. “The public charge rule is a cruel scheme intended to bully immigrant families out of seeking lifesaving assistance. This includes programs families are legally allowed to access — including health care and food assistance, even benefits legally accessed to support U.S. citizen family members.”
Tong said Connecticut sued to stop a similar policy in 2019.
A public charge means a person who is likely to become primarily dependent on the government for long-term subsistence. In 2022, the federal government issued a rule limiting public charge determinations to cash assistance for income maintenance or long-term institutionalization at government expense.
The Trump administration’s new rule, taking effect September 18, would let immigration officers count nearly any means-tested public benefit, used for any length of time, against an applicant. The rule also allows immigration officers to consider some benefits legally used by family members whom the applicant is legally obligated to support, even if the family member is a U.S. citizen. There is no clear limit on which benefits, or how much use, count against an applicant, leaving families to guess which forms of assistance might put their immigration status at risk.
Tong and the coalition assert that the administration has acknowledged the fear and confusion the new rule would create and that it would cause immigrant families to disenroll from benefits to which they are legally entitled. DHS estimates that disenrollment or forgone enrollment of nearly 1 million people resulting from the new rule could reduce federal Medicaid and CHIP transfer payments to the states by approximately $4.05 billion annually and federal SNAP transfer payments by approximately $1.02 billion annually.
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