President Donald Trump is continuing to fight the importation and permanent resettlement
of welfare-dependent foreign nationals within the borders of the United States.
His plan to stop them from turning into public charges supported by the American taxpayers
may significantly shift where legal immigrants to the country derive from.
The proposal states: "Self-sufficiency has been a basic principle of United States immigration
law since this country's earliest immigration statutes."
It remains United States policy that "the availability of public benefits does not constitute
an incentive for immigration to the United States."
Breitbart News reports: "Currently, there is an estimated record
high of 44.5 million foreign-born residents living in the U.S.
This is nearly quadruple the immigrant population in 2000.
The vast majority of those arriving in the country every year — more than 1.5 million
annually — are low-skilled, poor or working class foreign nationals.
About one in eight new arrivals are from Mexico, a country stricken by poverty and crime.
Poor and crime-ridden regions of the world like the Caribbean, the Middle East, Central
America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South America have all increasingly made up a larger share
of legal immigration to the U.S. in recent years.'"
The Trump administration is now planning to move forward with regulatory changes that
could make it significantly harder for hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals currently
residing within the borders of America ineligible for green cards if they use any one of a wide
array of taxpayer-funded public assistance programs.
The government has traditionally considered someone who relies on government cash assistance
for more than half of their income a public charge.
Those who oppose benefits for non-citizens argue that restricting their access to taxpayer-funded
public assistance programs has been a principle of American domestic policy since colonial
times.
The federal law, established in 1882 and strengthened in the early twentieth century, was that immigration
officials should refuse entry to any non-citizen who appeared likely to become a "public
charge" and could and should deport those who did.
The draft regulation proposes to expand the definition of "public charge" to include
users of many non-cash aid programs such as food assistance and Section 8 housing vouchers.
The 447-page rule, titled: "Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds," will not apply
to families making less than 15 percent of the official poverty designation, however.
The Daily Caller reports: "The change restores the definition of public
charge to its original meaning under a federal law that aims to block the admission of immigrants
likely to become a drain on public resources, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen
Nielsen.
"Under long-standing federal law, those seeking to immigrate to the United States
must show they can support themselves financially," Nielsen said in a statement.
"The department takes seriously its responsibility to be transparent in its rulemaking and is
welcoming public comment on the proposed rule.
This proposed rule will implement a law passed by Congress intended to promote immigrant
self-sufficiency and protect finite resources by ensuring that they are not likely to become
burdens on American taxpayers."
"Under the current interpretation of immigration law, non-immigrant visa holders who receive
cash welfare payments are considered a public charge and are generally ineligible to adjust
to permanent resident status.
The same standard applies overseas — any potential immigrant who is likely to need
cash assistance from the government is inadmissible.
"If the proposed regulation takes effect, immigration officers would also factor in
the use of several non-cash assistance programs when making public burden determinations.
Current and past use of the programs above a certain threshold would be "heavily weighed
negative factor" with respect to green card adjudications, according to DHS.
"In a statement released Saturday night, DHS identified several cash and non-cash programs
included in the expanded public charge definition: "The public benefits proposed to be designated
in this rule are federal, state, local, or tribal cash assistance for income maintenance,
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicaid
(with limited exceptions for Medicaid benefits paid for an "emergency medical condition,"
and for certain disability services related to education), Medicare Part D Low Income
Subsidy, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or
food stamps), institutionalization "T
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