{"id":139429,"date":"2026-07-16T12:20:03","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T18:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/trump-administration-revives-rule-that-could-deny-green-cards-to-immigrants-who-use-public-benefi\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T12:22:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T18:22:25","slug":"trump-administration-revives-rule-that-could-deny-green-cards-to-immigrants-who-use-public-benefi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/trump-administration-revives-rule-that-could-deny-green-cards-to-immigrants-who-use-public-benefi\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration revives rule that could deny green cards to immigrants who use public benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FILE
FILE PHOTO – Rosa, second from right, who wants her last name withheld, an undocumented immigrant who used to get about $190 per month from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and who stopped taking benefits fearing deportation, is surrounded by her son Edgar, far right, daughter Olga, far left, and grandson Logan at their home during an interview in New York, May 17, 2017. (AP Photo\/Bebeto Matthews, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Bebeto Matthews, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MIAMI (AP) \u2014 The Trump administration is reviving a rule that could deny green cards to immigrants who use public benefits that could include food stamps, Medicaid, housing vouchers and others.<\/p>\n

The policy, known as \u201cpublic charge,\u201d appeared on Thursday in the Federal Register. It will be formally published on July 20 and take effect Sept. 18. Under the policy, applicants for green cards have to show they wouldn\u2019t be burdens to the country or \u201cpublic charges.\u201d<\/p>\n

The policy was first implemented in February 2020<\/a> as one of President Donald Trump\u2019s moves to limit legal immigration during his first administration, but it was reversed<\/a> after Democratic President Joe Biden came to power.<\/p>\n

Its return comes when the Republican administration is implementing a hardline policy to curb both illegal and legal immigration<\/a>, and when the cost of healthcare and food is rising.<\/p>\n

The federal government \u201cis reaffirming the requirement of self-reliance, protecting public resources and ending policies that encouraged dependency on the backs of hard-working American taxpayers,\u201d U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a post published on its X account.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder President Trump, USCIS is restoring the basic principle that immigrants must be able to support themselves,” the post said.<\/p>\n

While the administration\u2019s crackdown on immigration<\/a> has an increased focus on deportations and immigration enforcement in cities across the country and at borders and entry points, it has also taken actions that target legal immigrants and mixed-status families, in which the parents are foreign nationals with U.S.-born children.<\/p>\n

Federal law already requires those seeking permanent residency or legal status to demonstrate that they will not become a public charge. The Trump administration\u2019s rule, however, includes a broader range of programs that could disqualify them.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration first promoted the rule in 2018 as a way to ensure that only those who were self-sufficient came to the U.S. Immigrant rights advocates criticized it, saying it amounted to a \u201cwealth test.\u201d Public health experts said it would lead to worse health outcomes.<\/p>\n

Manatt Health, a group that provides advice to state and federal governments, estimated the policy would have deterred as many as 26 million people from seeking healthcare, food, housing or other aid through programs for which they qualified under federal law. About half were U.S. citizens, mostly children or adults living in a mixed-status family, according to the group.<\/p>\n

Experts also noted that most people who receive benefits from the government are already legal residents.<\/p>\n

A 2020 study from the Migration Policy Institute said that while the \u201cchilling effects\u201d may be vast, the number of immigrants who could be deemed ineligible for legal permanent residence based on use of one of the public benefits under the rule was small.<\/p>\n

The institute estimated that no more than 167,000 people \u2014 less than 1% of the 22.1 million noncitizens residing in the United States at that time \u2014 could be determined ineligible for a green card based on their current use of a listed benefit.<\/p>\n

There were 22.8 million noncitizens living in the U.S. in 2023, according to the Census Bureau.<\/p>\n

Nongovernmental organizations said the policy generated confusion and fear and caused many immigrants and their U.S.-born relatives to decide not to apply for benefits and services to which they were entitled.<\/p>\n

Immigrant advocates condemned the government\u2019s decision to revive the \u201cpublic charge\u201d rule and expressed concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis regulation is a direct assault on immigrant families, and a threat to our country\u2019s health and economic security,\u201d said Adriana Cadena, executive director at the Protecting Immigrant Families Coalition. \u201cThe Trump administration is basing immigration decisions on bias and politics, regardless of the resulting harm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah Krieger, senior policy counsel at the National Immigration Law Center, said the rule would make immigrants afraid to go to the doctor, buy food at the grocery store and file taxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this new rule, they are sowing fear and chaos to ultimately reshape America into a country where only the few who are white and ultra-wealthy are welcome,\u201d Krieger said. \u201cThe rule is not just deeply harmful, it also violates the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FILE
FILE – Hundreds of people stand in line outside a U.S. immigration office with numerous courtrooms in San Francisco, Jan. 31, 2019. (AP Photo\/Eric Risberg, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Eric Risberg, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE – A Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, better known as WIC, bag sits in a shopping cart in Jackson, Miss., Oct. 3, 2013. (AP Photo\/Rogelio V. Solis, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Rogelio V. Solis, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FILE PHOTO – Rosa, second from right, who wants her last name withheld, an undocumented immigrant who used to get about $190 per month from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and who stopped taking benefits fearing deportation, is surrounded by her son Edgar, far right, daughter Olga, far left, and grandson Logan at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-139429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139429"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139455,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139429\/revisions\/139455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139429"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=139429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}