DHS Considering “Public Charge Test” For Immigrants

I’m not sure why this would be “controversial” at all. If you’re applying to become a citizen you must demonstrate that you can take care of yourself, that you won’t be on public support systems

DHS could weigh immigrants’ use of Medicaid, food and housing help in green card decisions

In a move that will place hundreds of thousands of green card applicants under broader scrutiny each year, the Trump administration is allowing immigration officers to consider whether some applicants have used taxpayer-funded benefits — including Medicaid, food stamps and housing assistance — when determining whether they qualify for permanent legal status.

The Department of Homeland Security is poised to rescind a 2022 Biden-era regulation narrowing how officers apply a long-standing “public charge” test — an immigration screening tool used to determine whether applicants are likely to rely on government support — according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials.

The change may directly affect hundreds of thousands of people applying for green cards from inside the U.S. each year. It could trigger a broader ripple effect if immigrant families avoid health care, food, or housing assistance — even when they or their U.S.-citizen children legally qualify — out of fear that tapping into those benefits could ultimately hurt their immigration cases.

Under existing federal immigration law, some individuals applying for a visa, admission to the U.S. or green cards can be deemed inadmissible if the government determines they are likely “at any time” to become a public charge.

The Biden-era rule, issued in 2022, limited the benefits DHS could consider to primarily cash welfare payments meant to cover basic living expenses and long-term institutional care paid for by the federal government.

They shouldn’t be on any benefits. The US government shouldn’t be bringing in or letting in foreigners who will be a drain on the US taxpayer

The federal government “is reaffirming the requirement of self-reliance, protecting public resources and ending policies that encouraged dependency on the backs of hard-working American taxpayers,” USCIS Director Joseph B. Edlow told CBS News in a statement. “Under President Trump, USCIS is restoring the basic principle that immigrants must be able to support themselves.”

Send them packing.