SCOTUS Passes – Public Charge Immigrants Can Get Green Cards

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a bid by Republican state officials to defend a Trump-era immigration rule barring permanent residency for immigrants deemed likely to need government benefits.

In a one-page opinion, the Supreme Court passed on ruling on the matter.

So, nothing changes on immigrant welfare. The States can’t defend the Trump-era rule and immigrants on the dole can get a green card.

DISMISSED THE APPEAL

The unsigned one-sentence ruling “dismissed as improvidently granted” an appeal by 13 Republican state attorneys general. The appeal led by Arizona’s Mark Brnovich sought to defend the rule in court. This is after Biden’s administration refused to do so and rescinded it. The rule widened the scope of immigrants deemed likely to become a “public charge”, mainly dependent on the government for subsistence.

Brnovich was joined by officials from Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia.

Brnovich sought to intervene in a challenge to Trump’s immigration rule involving three lawsuits. It included two filed in California and Washington state by 18 mostly Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia.

IMMIGRANTS RECEIVING WELFARE OR LIKELY TO COULDN’T GET GREEN CARDS

The Trump-era policy, championed by White House adviser Stephen Miller, broadened the definition of public assistance in federal immigration regulations. Under the rules, immigrants could have been denied permanent resident status – a green card – if they had received food stamps, welfare, Medicaid, prescription drug subsidies, or Section 8 housing vouchers or were found to be likely to do so in the future.

The Biden administration stopped enforcing the policy in March 2021.

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