As a result of a January U.S. Supreme Court 5-4 vote to remove a nationwide injunction blocking the enhanced Public Charge Rule, beginning on Feb. 24, USCIS will implement its inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds Final Rule. The new rule aims to make it easier for the government to deny legal permanent residency to immigrants “likely to use public benefits” and will become effective nationwide, except in Illinois where the rule remains enjoined by a federal court.
The new Public Charge Rule is not retroactive and will apply only to applications filed for immigration after the effective date. Applications and petitions already pending with USCIS on Feb. 24, or postmarked prior to that date, will not be subject to the updated public charge rule.
The administration has made sweeping changes to the country's immigration apparatus as the US responds to the coronavirus pandemic, altering daily operations and disrupting the lives of thousands.
And there's more to come. Late Monday, immigration was temporarily suspending immigration. Immigration to the United States has largely been cut off amid the pandemic.
In a little over a month, there have been more than a dozen changes to the system, ranging from postponing immigration hearings to pausing deportation flights to certain countries to swiftly removing migrants arrested at the border and suspending refugee admissions. The tweaks to the system are being made incrementally, though rapidly, as the pandemic continues to spread across the country.
Congress first established the Public Charge Rule in 1882 to allow the U.S. government to deny a U.S. visa to anyone who is likely, at any time, to become a public charge. Under Section 212(a)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), an individual seeking admission to the United States or seeking to adjust status to that of an individual lawfully admitted for permanent residence (green card) is inadmissible if the individual “at the time of application for admission or adjustment of status, is likely at any time to become a public charge.”