A proposed rule from the White House would make it harder for legal immigrants to get green cards if they have received certain kinds of public assistance – including Medicaid, food stamps, and housing subsidies. Green cards allow them to live and work permanently in the United States.
“Those seeking to immigrate to the United States must show they can support themselves financially,” Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in a statement.
The proposal, announced Sept. 22, marks a new frontier in the administration’s long-term effort to curb immigration, both legal and illegal. It already has spurred intense criticism from Democrats, anti-poverty activists, health care organizations, and immigrants’ rights advocates, who call its restrictions unprecedented.
“We are operating in an overall climate of tremendous fear and anxiety as a result of the administration’s overall approach to immigration enforcement and immigration policy,” said Mark Greenberg, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, which studies migration and refugee policies at local, national, and international levels. He is also a former Obama administration official.
But what effect would this proposal have?
It’s a complicated question, touching upon vast government programs, with billions of dollars at stake. While the implications aren’t all immediately clear, Kaiser Health News breaks down some of the key elements.
1. First thing first: What is the White House proposing?
The Trump administration wants to redefine a status known as “public charge” – a category used to determine whether someone seeking permanent resident status is “likely to become primarily dependent on the government for subsistence.”
In the past, people have been at risk of being defined a “public charge” if they took cash welfare – known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or Supplemental Security Income – or federal help paying for long-term care. (Immigrants must be in the country legally for 5 years before being eligible for TANF or SSI.)
And that “public charge” designation could undermine their applications for permanent residence.
The new rule would expand the list to include some health insurance, food, and housing programs. Specifically, it would penalize green-card applicants for using Medicaid, a federal-state health plan for low-income people. (Penalties would not apply for using Medicaid in certain emergencies or for some Medicaid services provided through schools and disability programs.)
Using food stamps, Section 8 rental assistance, and federal housing vouchers also would count against applicants. Enrollment in a Medicare Part D program subsidy to help low-income people buy prescription drugs would work against them, too.
The proposal “is definitely a dramatic change from how public charge works today,” said Kelly Whitener, an associate professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families who specializes in pediatric health benefits and managed-care systems.
A leaked version of the rule from March suggested officials then were also considering penalizing those who receive subsidies to buy health insurance on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. But that idea was not in the proposal. The marketplace subsidies are aimed at people at a generally higher income bracket than the beneficiaries targeted in the Trump plan, Whitener noted.
“They’re really homing in on low-income immigrants,” she added.
Nielsen said the proposed rule is “intended to promote immigrant self-sufficiency and protect finite resources.”