US Green Card applicants face renewed scrutiny as Trump revives public benefits rule: All you need to know

The Trump administration is bringing back its “public charge” rule, a policy that could make it harder for some immigrants to obtain green cards if they have used public benefits such as food stamps, Medicaid or housing vouchers.

The rule appeared in the Federal Register on Thursday, is scheduled for formal publication on July 20, and will take effect on September 18, according to Associated Press. It was first introduced during President Donald Trump’s first term in February 2020 as part of a wider effort to tighten legal immigration, but was later reversed under President Joe Biden.

What the rule changes

Federal law already requires green card applicants to show that they are not likely to become dependent on the government. The revived rule gives immigration officers wider discretion to make that assessment.

Instead of listing specific benefits that could automatically trigger disqualification, it allows officers to make “individualised, fact-specific public charge inadmissibility determinations, based on a totality of the alien's circumstances.”

The rule says that “using good judgment and discretion, officers will more accurately assess an alien's likelihood at any time of becoming a public charge.”

READ MORE: Trump admin tightens US visa rules: Student visa limits capped, restrictions for foreign journalists

USCIS defends the move

US Citizenship and Immigration Services defended the policy in a post on X, framing it as a return to self-reliance.

“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,” the agency wrote. “Under President Trump, USCIS is restoring the basic principle that immigrants must be able to support themselves.”

Millions could avoid benefits, critics warn

Critics say the policy could create fear well beyond those directly affected. Health advisory group Manatt Health estimated that up to 26 million people could be discouraged from seeking healthcare, food, housing or other support they are legally entitled to receive.

About half of them are US citizens, mostly children or adults in mixed-status families.

A 2020 Migration Policy Institute study, however, found that the number of people who could actually be denied permanent residency based on current benefit use was far smaller — no more than 167,000, or less than 1% of the 22.1 million noncitizens then living in the US.

Rights groups call it a ‘wealth test’

Immigrant rights groups have renewed criticism of the rule, calling it a “wealth test” against lower-income applicants.

“This regulation is a direct assault on immigrant families, and a threat to our country's health and economic security. The Trump administration is basing immigration decisions on bias and politics, regardless of the resulting harm,” said Adriana Cadena of the Protecting Immigrant Families Coalition.

Sarah Krieger of the National Immigration Law Center said the rule would spread fear around basic services.

“With this new rule, they are sowing fear and chaos to ultimately reshape America into a country where only the few who are white and ultra-wealthy are welcome. The rule is not just deeply harmful, it also violates the law,” she said.