Thread: New rule would deny green cards to immigrants who used food stamps, public housing

Julia Ainsley 30 mins ago

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced a proposed rule Saturday that would make it harder for immigrants already in the U.S. legally, as well as those seeking to enter, to obtain visas or green cards if they have ever been dependent on certain public benefits, like food stamps or public housing.

The proposal, which can become a rule after a public comment period, rewrites a 1999 rule that limited green cards from immigrants who were dependent on cash benefits, but did not take into consideration healthcare or other non-monetary benefits.

Originally, the rule known as "public charge" began in the 1800s as a way for the U.S. to deny entry to immigrants who were likely to become a drain on the economy.

"This proposed rule will implement a law passed by Congress intended to promote immigrant self-sufficiency and protect finite resources by ensuring that they are not likely to become burdens on American taxpayers," said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

As NBC News previously reported, earlier versions of the proposal included more draconian measures, such as limiting green cards and citizenship for immigrants who had used Obamacare or certain tax credits.

"The [disqualifying] benefits generally represent the largest federal programs for low-income people by total expenditure that address basic living needs such as income, housing, food, and medical care," a spokeswoman for DHS said in a written briefing.

Proposed disqualifying benefits would also include the Medicare Part D Low Income Subsidy and vouchers for Section 8 Housing.

Immigrants who receive more than $1,821 annually, 15 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, in benefits that can be monetized would also be disqualified from receiving green cards and visas.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...GCV?li=BBnbcA1

Trump admin proposes rule to block visas, green cards for those likely to use certain public benefits

By Clare Foran and Tal Kopan, CNN
Updated 9:32 PM ET, Sat September 22, 2018

Washington (CNN) The Trump administration on Saturday revealed its plan to make it harder for immigrants to come to or stay in the United States if they or their family may use certain public benefits.

The proposed rule announced by the Department of Homeland Security could make immigrants seeking to enter the United States ineligible for visas or green cards if they are deemed likely to receive certain public benefits once they come to the country.

Immigrants could also be denied a change in legal status once in the US if they received or are likely in the future to use public benefits, such as public housing and food stamps equivalent to a certain monetary threshold.

The rule is a vast expansion of existing interpretations of what is considered a "public charge," or someone dependent or likely to become dependent on government. The "public charge" concept has a long history in immigration law, DHS noted, though the proposal would be a much broader take on it.

If the rule survives widely expected legal changes, it could mark a sea change that allows far more immigrants to be rejected from the US or force them to choose to forgo benefits that they or family members would otherwise be eligible to receive.

"Under long-standing federal law, those seeking to immigrate to the United States must show they can support themselves financially," Department of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said in a statement in a DHS news release outlining the proposal.

"This proposed rule will implement a law passed by Congress intended to promote immigrant self-sufficiency and protect finite resources by ensuring that they are not likely to become burdens on American taxpayers," Nielsen said.

Immigration activists claimed the rule would hurt the country in the long run.

"Today's announcement by the Trump Administration is a backdoor, administrative end-run to substantially reduce legal immigration that, if implemented, will hurt our entire country," said FWD.us President Todd Schulte. "This policy will cost the United States in the long run by limiting the contributions of hardworking immigrants who could become legal residents, and no one is better off because of it. The proposed changes would create a subjective criteria and overly-bureaucratic process when making a public charge determination. It is another underhanded attempt to force cuts to legal immigration, ultimately hurting our communities and country."

Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, issued a statement critical of the news on Saturday following reports on the proposed rule.

"How you contribute to your community — and not what you look like or the contents of your wallet — should be what matters most. This proposed rule does the opposite and makes clear that the Trump administration continues to prioritize money over family unity by ensuring that only the wealthiest can afford to build a future in this country," Hincapié said.

Melissa Boteach at Center for American Progress also criticized the proposal, telling CNN, "This is an attack on working families and says that you would have to achieve the American dream somewhere else before you even come here."

The rule has been in development for months and was pushed forward strongly by White House adviser and immigration hardliner Stephen Miller, sources told CNN. The proposal has been with the White House for review since March. Concerns over potential lawsuits delayed the final rule, and the draft underwent numerous revisions, multiple sources told CNN.

Once the rule is formally published in the Federal Register, it will kick off a public comment period for Americans and interest groups to submit feedback. DHS will, by law, have to review those comments before finalizing the regulation. Advocacy groups are also widely expected to try to challenge the rule in court.

CNN's Geneva Sands contributed to this report.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/22/polit...its/index.html

The only real opposition to anything reducing legal immigration are the "immigration attorneys" who feed off the system of legal immigration. Less immigrants sucking on taxpayer benefits, less immigration business for the attorneys. No sensible common sense Americans wants poor people flooding into the country to suck on welfare, we have our hands full getting and keeping our own people employed at sustainable wages so they don't use or need welfare.

Totally support the President on this change and consider it a vast and necessary improvement.

MR President .
why don't we have the same law as Mexico . & all other country will not come over as for the green card . that should be out the window . stop all the free bee & they will not come over it out of hand now .(I don't know if you see any of our Post . But some one in the wh see it . your doing a very good job I see you name on the bill Border all over with light's it look good .( michelle Depalma for trump 2020)

No diseases, no medical conditions, no TB, no respiratory diseases, no cancer, no kidney dialysis, no diabetes, no heart condition! We do not want to foot the bill for their healthcare!

No person with SEVERAL kids coming here they cannot afford to house and feed themselves!

Shut down FOR PROFIT prisons and detention centers! We do not want to pay to warehouse millions and millions of foreigners who should be deported!

NO BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP! THEY ARE NOT U.S. CITIZENS...GIVE THEM A "CERTIFICATE OF CHILD BORN ABROAD".

SHUT DOWN THESE TOURIST BIRTHING CENTERS...IT IS A VIOLATION OF OUR VISA LAWS...THEY DELIBERATELY COME HERE TO GIVE BIRTH! PULL THEIR VISA AND NO CHANCE TO EVER COME BACK!!!

NO VOTING, NO GOVERNMENT OFFICE FOR 20 YEARS!

Fire those government employees who knowingly award taxpayer funded benefits to illegal aliens and non-citizens. They are aiding and abetting these criminal trespassers.

The illegal parents are the guardians and custodians of their minor children...not the US taxpayers!

No illegal alien shall collect any taxpayer funded benefits on behalf of a US citizen, whether it is a minor or otherwise!

DEPORT THE WHOLE FAMILY...THEY DO NOT LEAVE THEM HERE LIKE A BOX OF UNWANTED PUPPIES!

New Policy Proposal Would Deny Green Cards To Immigrants On Welfare



"Nobody coming over from Sicily to Ellis Island was accepting food stamps..."

Sun, 09/23/2018 - 22:45
210 SHARES

The Trump administration is moving to fulfill another of President Trump's campaign promises by implementing more restrictions on legal immigration by deporting green-card holders who rely too heavily on federal government programs like food stamps. According to the Associate Press, the Department of Homeland Security published a 447-page proposal on Saturday outlining its plans to expand restrictions that would disqualify legal immigrants from obtaining a green card if they rely too heavily on Medicaid, food stamps, housing vouchers and other forms of public assistance. According to US law, applicants must prove they won't become a "public charge" - that they wouldn't derive more than half their income from government programs - to achieve green-card status. Under the proposal, the federal government would begin factoring in non-monetary benefits like food stamps and Section 8 housing benefits.



The rule would also require public officials to take into account factors like mental health issues, cancer and heart disease, since all these factors could increase the likelihood of a person becoming a public charge.
According to the Department of Homeland Security proposal, current and past receipt of certain public benefits above an expanded threshold would be "a heavily weighed negative factor" in granting green cards, as well as temporary visas. The proposal has yet to be entered into the Federal Register - but it will be entered into it at some point during "the coming weeks", at which point a 60-day comment period will begin.
If enacted, the rule could impact about 382,000 people a year, according to government estimates. However, opponents have said it could have a much wider impact as current green-card holders will avoid using badly needed benefits, according to the LA Times.

"Those seeking to immigrate to the United States must show they can support themselves financially," Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in a Saturday statement, adding that the new rule would "promote immigrant self-sufficiency and protect finite resources by ensuring that they are not likely to become burdens on American taxpayers."

The rule would not need to be approved by Congress following the comment period. Unsurprisingly, immigration advocates are already gearing up for a fight.
Immigrant advocates and congressional Democrats have already vowed to fight the rule, and political observers said it could become a factor in upcoming midterm election that will determine which party controls Congress.

"I see the Trump administration’s hostility towards immigrants as part of a strategy of mass distraction to keep the focus on fomenting outrage directed at Latinos while keeping the focus off of the corruption and graft that are gripping the White House and the GOP," Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.), chairman of the Immigration Task Force of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said in a statement.
"Self-sufficiency has been a basic principle of United States immigration law since this country’s earliest immigration statutes," the nearly 500-page proposal states, insisting that "the availability of public benefits not constitute an incentive for immigration."

But supporters of the policy say it is long overdue.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, which advocates for limits on legal migration, called the new rule "long overdue."
"How wealthy do you have to be to be able to pay your own bills?" Krikorian said. "The point here is, can you support yourself? There’s no justification for admitting poor immigrants who need my money and your money to feed their kids…. We’ve already got enough people we have to support."
Krikorian said we live in a new age of immigration in which the poem inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty - "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" — no longer applies.
"Nobody coming over from Sicily to Ellis Island was accepting food stamps," he said.

The administration is choosing a risky time to move forward with the policy. As the AP points out, it could galvanize Democratic voters, who have been driven to the point of near-hysteria over Trump's other attempts at tightening restrictions on both legal and illegal immigration.
Then again, if the policy becomes law, it would be one more restriction preventing the "chain migration" - when legal immigrants seek to bring their entire families over to the US" - that Trump has promised to restrict.
If that happens, we wouldn't be surprised to see waves of outraged leftists congregating outside USCIS offices, demanding the administration back down from yet another "inhumane" policy.


https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...grants-welfare

They have to afford their own healthcare! No free ride of the US taxpayers!

No showing up a our ER's!

No giving birth for free...YOU pay the bill for it!

447 pages just to address the ones who rely too heavily

Why not make it 3 pages and cut off all freebies?

the Department of Homeland Security published a 447-page proposal on Saturday outlining its plans to expand restrictions that would disqualify legal immigrants from obtaining a green card if they rely too heavily on Medicaid, food stamps, housing vouchers and other forms of public assistance. According to US law, applicants must prove they won't become a "public charge" - that they wouldn't derive more than half their income from government programs - to achieve green-card status. Under the proposal, the federal government would begin factoring in non-monetary benefits like food stamps and Section 8 housing benefits.

Everything sounded good until I read the above paragraph. How come the requirement has to be subjective and why only half their income?