Member-only story
MONITOR
This Sweeping Expansion of an Old Regulation Has Bias Written All Over It
Public Charge relies on outlandish stereotypes to target legal immigrants
A few days after a massive ICE raid in Mississippi, where agents arrested 680 immigrants from seven locales, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a sweeping expansion of an old regulation, known as Public Charge, to wage a vicious attack on legal low-income immigrants. Though lawsuits will likely delay implementation, the new rule is scheduled to take effect on October 15. It could affect some 26 million immigrants.
Like the Muslim Ban and border wall, Public Charge is yet another merciless, racist, and xenophobic policy against immigrants based on grotesque stereotypes. Immigration organizations were quick to fire back after the unveiling of the new rule. “Shame on the Trump administration for expanding a rule with racist roots in a shameful ploy to rig the immigration system for the wealthy,” said Cynthia Buiza, Executive Director of the California Immigrant Policy Center.
The existing Public Charge rule, which annuls the 1999 Public Charge guidelines, prevents legal immigrants from becoming permanent U.S. residents (green card holders) if they primarily depend upon government assistance to support themselves. For the determination of primary dependency, immigration officials have chiefly relied upon an immigrant’s sponsor’s affidavit that assures officials the sponsor will assume financial responsibility for the immigrant if necessary. And until now, government assistance has been narrowly defined to cash-aid like Temporary Aid for Needy Families or TANF (welfare) and Social Security Income, as well as the use of long-term institutional care.
Low income immigrants already residing in the United States will find themselves between a diabolical rock and a damning hard place.
The new 837-page rule will crack down on legal immigrants who use a wide range of non-cash resources, such as food stamps, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, and housing vouchers. Immigration officials will apply strict criteria to determine…
