On October 10, 2018, the Department of Homeland Security published the proposal, “Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds” in the Federal Register.
The proposed change will expand the definition of “public charge” in 8 U.S. Code § 1182 (a), which states: “any alien who…is likely at any time to become a public charge” is “ineligible to receive visas and ineligible to be admitted to the United States.”
Since 1999, "public charge" been defined as anyone who gets public cash benefits or needs a government run long-term care facility. Under the new proposal, a person is a “public charge” if they receive public benefits values at more than 15 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines for a household of one for more than 12-36 consecutive months. These public benefits include earned-income tax credit, some Medicaid, housing subsidies, and food stamps. In 2018, the FPG per month for a household of one is $1,012, so 15% is $151.80. Expanding the definition will harm vulnerable communities and allow the government to deny green cards and visas based on the "likelihood" of a non-green card holder or non-visa holder asking and receiving public benefits at any time in the future.
LaLSA signed on to a response circulated by Columbia Law School’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic. We submitted this response as a comment to DHS via the Regulations website. We believe the proposed rule would cause major harm to immigrants and their families. DHS provides no justification for why changes are needed, so we urge that the rule be withdrawn in its entirety and that long standing principles clarified in the 1999 Field Guidance remain in effect. For more information about our specific comments, please read our full response.
If you would like a template of our response to submit your own comment to DHS, please contact Patricia Rojas-Castro. You can submit your comment and read the full draft of the proposal on the Federal Register website. Public commenting on the proposed rule is open until Monday, December 10th at 11:59 PM ET. Our goal is to overload their comment page!
