US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on Thursday that it is bringing back the Trump public charge immigration rule, widening the public benefits immigration officials may weigh in green card decisions. The change appears in the Federal Register on July 16 and is expected to take effect on September 18.
Under the revived rule, officials can consider whether an immigrant is likely to become primarily dependent on government assistance. The expanded list can include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, TANF, Medicaid, housing vouchers, and other programs, along with age, health, education, and job skills.
USCIS on X
USCIS said on X that the final rule is intended to help ensure that those seeking permanent residence are able to support themselves and are not likely to become primarily dependent on public assistance. The statement added that USCIS is protecting public resources and ending policies that encouraged dependency on the backs of hard-working American taxpayers.
The rule first took effect under the Trump administration in 2018 and was reversed by the Biden administration in 2020. A 2020 study from the Migration Policy Institute said the rule had chilling effects and found that less than 1% of the 22.1 million immigrants in the US at that time could be ineligible for a green card because they used government benefits.
Manatt Health Estimate
Manatt Health estimated that the new policy could deter as many as 26 million people from seeking government assistance, and about half of them were US citizens, typically children or members of mixed families. That leaves the rule with two separate tests: how officers use the benefits list in individual green card reviews, and how widely people may react before applying for aid.
The rule will be formally published on July 20. For immigrants preparing green card applications, the practical shift is that benefits previously outside the core review now sit inside it, and the question is how many denials follow once the policy begins on September 18.
