This morning, the Trump administration officially published its new “public charge” rule – an effort to disqualify more immigrant families from accessing green cards and to price out working and middle class immigrant families from fully participating in the American dream.
The following is a statement from Pili Tobar, Deputy Director of America’s Voice:
The new public charge rule is a backdoor cut to legal immigration that could dramatically slash legal immigration levels. In addition, it chills the use of services that promote social mobility, and deals another blow to communities of color forced to pick between what they need — health care, food, a safe home — and a stable future with their loved ones in the United States.
The cruelty is the point.
Despite the spin and justifications from the administration, the new rule is a policy announcement in search of a policy problem. Under existing law, immigrants are already largely ineligible from accessing most benefits and currently access available public services at a significantly lower rate than native-born citizens.
Instead, this is about race and ethnicity; this is a racial wealth test on immigrant families that sends the message that if you’re not white and rich, ‘you’re not welcome’ in this country. It’s all about finding new ways to ensure that immigrant families live in fear.
It’s harmful, cruel, unnecessary, and very much on-brand for a Trump administration that is obsessed with little else but exacting new and punitive measures against immigrants and people of color.
