Trump administration makes it harder for immigrants on public assistance to get green cards

(CNN) — The Trump administration is reviving an effort that will likely make it tougher for many immigrants to obtain green cards if they use or are deemed likely to need public benefits, such as food stamps, Medicaid or housing vouchers, in its latest attempt to curb legal immigration.

What’s more, it could also have a “chilling effect” on hundreds of thousands of immigrant families, prompting them to disenroll from or not to apply for safety net programs that they – and particularly their US citizen children – are eligible to receive for fear of hurting their chances to be approved.

The final rule, published Monday, allows immigration officers to take into account a wider array of public assistance programs when determining whether green card applicants will likely become “public charges,” which is one factor in the evaluation. It rescinds a 2022 Biden-era rule that excluded non-cash benefits from consideration.

“Under @POTUS Trump, DHS is restoring the basic principle that immigrants must be able to support themselves,” the Department of Homeland Security posted to X on Thursday. “We are reaffirming the requirement of self-reliance, protecting public resources, and ending policies that encouraged dependency on hard-working American taxpayers.”

About 588,000 applicants are subject to public charge reviews annually, on average, according to DHS. Historically, immigration officers only considered cash assistance, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or Supplemental Security Income from Social Security, when reviewing applications.

The new rule is more expansive than a similar one that President Donald Trump’s first administration put into effect in early 2020. The Biden administration revoked the earlier rule – which immigration advocates likened to a “wealth test” since it largely affected lower-income applicants – the next year.

The rule focuses on people who already have legal status in the US. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for public benefits.

The revived effort does not specify which safety net programs should be considered, saying only that DHS “will consider the receipt of any means tested public benefits,” according to the rule.

That could potentially include a wider array of income-based assistance, such as childcare subsidies, Head Start and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), as well as certain tax breaks, such as the child tax credit, said Maddie Geschu, director of policy and advocacy at the Protecting Immigrant Families Coalition.

Also, the new rule allows immigration officers to consider government benefits applied for on behalf of family members, including children who are citizens, Geschu told CNN.

DHS acknowledges in the rule that individuals may choose not to enroll their citizen children in these programs to “avoid negative consequences.” When assessing immigrants’ financial situations, officers may take into account whether members of applicants’ households are receiving public benefits due to the applicants’ low income.

Immigration advocates quickly decried the new rule, which appeared in the Federal Register on Thursday and takes effect September 18. They blasted DHS for ignoring the multitude of comments that laid out the harm it would cause to immigrant families.

The agency estimates that about 950,000 people may opt to leave or not enroll in six public benefits programs it examined, including Medicaid, food stamps, CHIP and federal rental assistance.

All the federal nutrition programs are critical to supporting families who are struggling to put food on the table, Crystal FitzSimons, president of the Food Research & Action Center, told CNN.

“We need to make sure that families who are eligible to participate in the federal nutrition programs are not afraid to participate in them,” she said. “We’re afraid we’re going to see an increase in hunger, and kids won’t have the food that they need to thrive.