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

Originally Posted by stoptheinvaders

Just received this from Numbers---so beware of Nielsen's 447 pages of hype!

Get the facts. Spread the word.

The most-covered immigration story in the media this week is the Trump administration's 'public charge' rule. Beware the hype.

In "The Truth about the 'Public Charge' Immigration Rule," Mark Krikorian (National Review; Center for Immigration Studies) runs through the key facts.

1.) "Current law (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(4)) says that any alien applying abroad for a visa, or wanting to upgrade to a green card from within the country, who 'is likely at any time to become a public charge is inadmissible.'"

2.) The rule changes what counts as a "welfare" benefit. Added to "cash assistance (such as state benefits or the federal TANF or SSI programs) and institutionalization for long-term care" are "food stamps, public housing, and Medicaid."

3.) "It applies only to people applying for green cards, not to people who already have green cards and apply for citizenship. It doesn't consider benefits received on behalf of U.S.-born children, or the school-lunch program, or the Earned Income Tax Credit, or emergency medical care, or disaster assistance. It also doesn't necessarily apply to one-time receipt of a welfare benefit, but sets dollar-amount or duration thresholds, below which the public-charge rule wouldn't apply. And refugees and asylum recipients, among others, are exempt altogether."

4.) "The level of immigration certainly won't decrease, because the waiting lists are so long that anyone barred from immigrating would simply be replaced by the next person in line."

JEREMY

Sounds like someone is playing the old bait & switch.

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?

Originally Posted by MW

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

Because they think throwing out a breadcrumb every now and then keeps the voters going to the polls for another breadcrumb.