Dear Allies:
We have good news to share! This morning, the Biden administration posted its final public charge rule. The final rule, which takes effect on December 23, 2022, cements the public charge policy in the longstanding 1999 interim field guidance, and will continue to reduce the bias and harm resulting from the Trump public charge policy.
We thank all of you for your impassioned advocacy in the last five years and beyond–including the filing of multiple lawsuits to block the Trump rule–that caused the Biden administration to prioritize this work. This is what we can accomplish when we work together.
While it’s important as a network to pause and celebrate this milestone, we have more work still to do. Together, we will use this victory as the stepping stone to the next phase of our fight: to repeal racist and discriminatory provisions (like public charge and the five year bar) in our immigration law, and to expand access to health, nutrition and housing benefits to immigrants and their families.
Join a PIF Call to Learn More
We will hold a call TODAY at 4 PM ET to share more details about the rule and PIF plans to support it. In the meantime, here is our press statement and here are talking points you can use for the public, policymakers, and journalists.
Join the call here.
Meeting ID: 841 9240 6081
Highlights from the final rule include:
- The use of core health, nutrition and housing assistance programs will not be considered in a public charge determination.
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Benefits received by a family member, like a U.S. citizen child, will not count in an individual’s immigration application.
- The only programs that can be considered in a public charge determination are Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash assistance, state and locally funded cash assistance for income maintenance, and long term institutional care paid for by Medicaid (not short term or rehabilitative care).
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A helpful list of the categories of non-citizens who are exempt from a public charge determination, including people applying for or granted asylum, refugee status, or TPS; Special Immigrant Juveniles; and Afghan or Iraqi Special Immigrant Visa holders. VAWA self- petitioners, and survivors who have applied for or been granted T or U status are generally exempt from a public charge assessment, regardless of their ultimate pathway to adjust status. People applying for U.S. citizenship are not subject to public charge.
Note: The final rule did not incorporate our comments to exclude consideration of state and locally funded cash assistance or Medicaid for institutional care.
Litigation
It is likely that the public charge rule, like many other Biden immigration policies, will be challenged in court. There are solid grounds for a court to uphold the rule. The Biden administration took the proper notice and comment steps in issuing the final rule. The policy is consistent with the field guidance that was in effect for 20 years. And, the field guidance itself is based on a century of policy and practice that preceded it.
We promise to keep you in the loop on any litigation and on potential opportunities to help the Biden administration defend the rule.
