Judge blocks public charge wealth test for Green Card petitions
Judge blocks public charge wealth test for Green Card petitions
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In Illinois, a federal judge blocked on Monday, November 2, the wealth test that officials were enforcing on Green Card petitions. In July, another federal judge from New York had already blocked this rule because of the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic.
“The ruling by Judge Gary Feinerman of the US District Court in Chicago blocks the so-called ‘public charge’ rule issued by the Department of Homeland Security in 2019 on a nationwide level. The regulation gives US immigration officials more power to reject petitions for legal permanent residency from immigrants who they determine rely — or could rely — on public benefits like food stamps, housing vouchers or Medicaid”, CBS News reported.
The Public Charge rule was implemented on people who were likely to become primarily dependent on the government for subsistence. According to the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services), to determine whether this could occur, caseworkers would consider petitioner’s wealth, age, educational skills, and proficiency in the English language, as well as their health.
It was in October 2019 that the new Public Charge rule was meant to take effect. However, it was blocked by several federal judges. Nonetheless, after months of litigation and an intervention by the US Supreme Court, Trump’s administration implemented the rule in February 2020 until it was halted in July because of the pandemic, as we mentioned above.
According to that judge, there was “evidence that it was deterring immigrant communities hard-hit by COVID-19 from accessing critical government aid and medical services. Then, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals suspended that ruling and officials reimposed the 2019 public charge test in late September,” according to the article by CBS News.
What will happen to the Public Charge rule if Joe Biden is elected President?
As you can read in NBC News, Trump’s election opponent, Joe Biden from the democrat party, has vowed to rescind the Public Charge rule and all restrictive immigration policies if elected as president.
If you have any questions about immigration in the United States and don’t know how these changes could affect you, contact an immigration attorney today in San Diego, California.