How the Trump admin's updated "public charge" rule could affect immigrants

Immigrants applying for a green card could now potentially be denied if they or their children have received any kind of public benefits, like food or housing assistance, Medicaid, or free school lunch under the Trump administration’s new public charge rule. More than 20 states and a separate group of cities are suing to try to block the changes, which went into effect on Friday.

The U.S. has had some kind of public charge rule in place since the late 1800s.

“Public charge rules say that people who are likely to be dependent on the government for their basic needs aren't eligible to immigrate permanently to the United States,” said Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. program at the Migration Policy Institute.

For a long time, that meant that if someone received cash assistance or if they were institutionalized on the government’s dime, they wouldn’t be eligible for a green card. But receiving other kinds of benefits wouldn’t count against them.

“Now, the Trump administration is basically saying that individual immigration officers should have full discretion to decide what kind of public benefits use makes somebody a public charge and what doesn't count,” Gelatt said.

That means it’s possible that someone could be denied a green card if they have received any kind of public benefits, like food assistance, Medicaid, or college financial aid, or if their U.S.-born kids have.

Immigrants generally aren’t even eligible for most public assistance in the first place, said Cori Alonso-Yoder, an assistant professor of law and director of the Immigration Clinic at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. There are, however, lots of mixed-status families, where parents aren’t eligible for Medicaid or SNAP, but their kids are.

“I think that we're going to see more people afraid to seek any kind of medical care or health assistance, food/nutrition assistance for their children” because accepting that help could now count against them, Alonso-Yoder said.