The Trump administration released a regulation today that could dramatically cut the number of legal immigrants allowed to enter and stay in the US by making it easier to reject green card and visa applications.
Today’s announcement amounts to a concerted effort by the administration to limit legal immigration and crack down on illegal immigration. The rule means many green card and visa applicants could be turned down if they have low incomes or little education, and have used benefits such as most forms of Medicaid, food stamps, and housing vouchers, because they’d be deemed more likely to need government assistance in the future.
It will encourage “self-reliance and self-sufficiency for those seeking to come to or stay in the United States,” said acting US Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ken Cuccinelli, appearing in the White House briefing room. When asked about whether the rule is unfairly targeting low-income immigrants, Cuccinelli said: “We certainly expect people of any income to be able to stand on their own two feet, so if people are not able to be self-sufficient, than this negative factor is going to bear very heavily against them in a decision about whether they’ll be able to become a legal permanent resident. ”
The 837-page rule applies to those seeking to come to or remain in the United States via legal channels and is expected to impact roughly 382,000 people seeking to adjust their immigration status, according to DHS. However, immigration advocates have argued that the rule goes beyond what Congress intended and would discriminate against those from poorer countries, keep families apart and prompt legal residents to forgo needed public aid, which could also impact their US citizen children.
This regulation will have the “deepest, widest and most long term impact” of all of the immigration policies implemented by the Trump administration, said Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, adding that her organization and others are preparing to bring a lawsuit over the regulation.
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