Trump’s Green Card Wealth Test Gets Reprieve in Latest Ruling

(Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration’s plan to screen out green card applicants who might become dependent on public benefits got another legal boost when an appeals court halted an order that had blocked the policy from going into effect during the pandemic.

A group of states led by New York sued the administration last year over the rule, which considers immigrants “public charges” if they’re likely to receive government benefits for more than 12 months over a three-year period. The states won a ruling preventing the measure from taking effect. The Supreme Court ultimately blocked that decision, and the rule went into effect in February. A green card is the informal name for a Permanent Resident Card.

Then, late last month, a federal judge issued another nationwide injunction, blocking the rule while a national emergency over the coronavirus remains in place, and again the government appealed. On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan stayed that injunction pending resolution of the challenge, except in the three states within its own jurisdiction -- Connecticut, New York and Vermont.

The new rule expands the definition of public charge and gives officials broad power to determine that someone is likely to fall into that category. Critics say it upends decades of immigration policy.

Read More: Public Charge Rule Rejected by U.S. Appeals Court in New York

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