Administration Watch
Cities and States Sue Trump Administration Over Expanded Public Charge Rule
PN Team • 2 months ago
New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Santa Clara County, King County and 22 states and the District of Columbia — including Illinois, California, Colorado, Washington and others, plus Pennsylvania's governor — have sued in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York over a Department of Homeland Security rule change to the "public charge" standard set to take effect Friday, Sept. 18. The rule lets immigration officials deny green cards or visas to applicants deemed likely to use any means-tested public benefit, including SNAP, Medicaid, housing vouchers or school lunch programs, reversing a narrower 2022 rule limited to cash assistance. It applies to family- and employment-based visa applicants; refugees, asylum recipients, TPS holders and certain trafficking or domestic violence victims are exempt. A similar policy from Trump's first term was blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2020.
Plaintiffs, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James and joined by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown and Illinois Deputy Attorney General Cara Hendrickson, call the rule unlawful, "arbitrary and capricious," and lacking clear standards for how benefit use counts against applicants. They warn it could push eligible immigrant and mixed-status families, including U.S. citizen children, away from benefits out of fear, straining local health, housing and school systems and costing states billions. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Colorado AG Phil Weiser led public criticism. DHS and USCIS defend the rule as protecting taxpayers from subsidizing dependent immigrants and dismiss the suits as politically motivated.
Sources:
Sentiment
- Phil Weiser Weiser is shown leading public criticism of the rule, a favorable portrayal of advocacy.
- Zohran Mamdani Mamdani is depicted as a public critic of the rule, portraying him positively as defending constituents.
- Donald Trump Trump's administration is the target of the lawsuit over a policy criticized as unlawful, and a similar past policy was previously blocked.
- California California is listed among the states suing, a factual and largely neutral mention.
- Colorado Colorado is mentioned as a plaintiff state, neutral factual context.
- Illinois Illinois is mentioned as a plaintiff state, a neutral factual reference.
- New York (state) New York state is named among the plaintiffs, a neutral factual reference.
- San Francisco San Francisco is listed as a plaintiff city, a neutral factual mention.
- United States The United States is referenced only as the general national context for the policy dispute.
- Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. is mentioned as a co-plaintiff jurisdiction, a neutral factual reference.