Starting Monday, low-income immigrants who receive public benefits – or who need them in the future – will be denied a visa or permanent residence despite having entered the country legally.
The new “public charge rule” of President Donald Trump’s government – which favors immigrants with resources that seek permanent status and leaves the poor in a disadvantaged position, according to analysts and experts – will prevent people who need coupons from food, housing assistance, Social Security income and Medicaid receive the green card because they would be considered a burden on the federal government.
As of February 24, a family of four would have to earn almost double – $ 60,000 – in order not to be rejected, compared to the previous income limit of $ 32,000, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service.
Asylees, refugees, victims of human trafficking and victims of domestic violence are exempt from the public charge standard. Also exempt are the beneficiaries of the Cuban Adjustment Law, the Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Law and the Immigration Justice Law for Haitian Refugees, as well as those who receive a low-income subsidy for Medicare Part D. Pregnant women and those under 21 are also exempt from the new rule.
Those who are at the greatest risk of being declared a “public charge” are individuals who try to adjust their status through a spouse or family petition, newcomers who do not have a permanent residence route and those who are under the Status of Temporary Protection (TPS).
People who have applied for citizenship are not subject to the “public charge” rule.
Last fall, the Trump administration issued a regulation proposal to make significant changes in the public charge rule. More than 250,000 people spoke out against the rule by submitting comments, despite which the government decided to implement them last summer.
Immigrant advocates then filed numerous lawsuits across the country, which resulted in five preliminary rulings that temporarily prevented the implementation of the measure. The administration appealed each case, and as of this Monday the rule takes effect.
Although the process has always had factors such as income, educational level, health level and skills, according to the new rule, the USCIS will take into account whether applicants have received public assistance for more than one year in the previous three years. to determine if you can receive legal status.
If the government determines that a new applicant may one day need government assistance to survive, the application will be rejected and the applicant may be subject to deportation proceedings, according to the new rule.
Not being subjected to a deportation process will depend solely on whether the USCIS official decides to grant a discretionary bond.
The minimum price of the bond is $ 8,100, plus an application fee of $ 25. That is in addition to the permanent residence adjustment fee, which is expected to increase to $ 2,195 later this year.
If the immigrant requests the bond and in the end they do not accept it, he loses the money. If you are granted permanent residence, your money is returned.
“The bond is completely discretionary and there is no guarantee that it will be returned,” said Adonia Simpson, director of the family defense program for the American for Immigrant Justice, a Florida nonprofit organization. “The whole rule is discriminatory.”
Simpson added: “People have no money to undergo the process, and it is so complex that fewer and fewer people get it without the help of a lawyer. Applicants will then seek help from people who are not lawyers, so we anticipate more fraud. ”
Federal authorities said the rule “will ensure that foreigners trying to enter and stay in the United States — temporarily or permanently — can support themselves and depend on their skills and the resources of family members, sponsors and private organizations, rather than resources. public ”.
According to the American Immigration Council, in 2017 in Florida there were 4.1 million people who were not US citizens, and 26% of them – approximately 1.2 million – have used some type of government benefit in the form of cash, medical services, food and assistance for housing.
Immigrants currently represent a small part of those who receive public benefits, basically because many do not meet the requirements from the beginning because of their immigration status. However, analysts claim that the new rule is likely to have direct consequences on people to whom it is not addressed.
“In essence, the norm of public charge is an assault on low-income immigrant families and an attempt to fundamentally change the immigration system,” said Madison Allen, a policy analyst and lawyer at the Center for Law and Social Policy. “The rule will also create more fear, something that is already being observed, among immigrants who care about receiving critical support such as medical services and nutrition assistance, which help working families move forward and be productive.”
But the consequences are serious, even for people who would not be considered a public charge under the new standard.
Some experts say that the new standard is expected to have a significant “frightening effect” on people who do not fall into those categories, because they think they would be in danger of being declared a public charge when in reality they are not.
“We’ve already seen it,” said Matt Childers, director of research and policy at Florida Health Justice Project. “People who are not subject to the public charge rule fear that if they apply for benefits, that could affect their status. Others fear that if they reapply or renew their benefits, that would put them in danger. ”
Florida is projected to be among the states most affected by the new rule and could lead to more than 100,000 US-born children of immigrant parents losing access to health insurance, and more than 82,000 losing access to program benefits of food assistance (SNAP).
Of those 100,000, 29,000 are expected to be taken out of medical insurance by their parents in Miami-Dade for fear of the new rules; in addition to 15,000 in Broward and 11,000 in Palm Beach, according to Childers.
Childers added that parents are expected to withdraw 24,000 of the food stamp benefits in Miami-Dade; 9,000 in Broward and another 9,000 in Palm Beach.
Under the new rule, when a person requests entry into the country or adjusting their status, after filling out the application – which takes about 4.5 hours to complete – immigration authorities study several factors to decide whether to approve or reject the probability It becomes a public charge.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, the latest information shows that in 2018 more than 2,051,000 people applied for permanent residence in the United States.
Among those people, almost 70% had at least one “negative factor” in their application ”, 43% had at least two and 17% had at least three.
Once a person has five negative factors, he is declared a public charge.
“Most applicants fall into a gray area with positive and negative factors, which underlines the discretion of the process,” says the investigation report.
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