Trump has been fidgeting with the immigration norms since he has acquired his position as the US President. Everyday you hear news of how it is becoming more and more difficult to enter the States.
Last year, we’d informed you in bold that Trump and his govt issued a presidential proclamation as per which the future immigrant visa applicants, including people with ties to family members in the U.S., will have to prove that they have health insurance or their financial ability to pay for medical care before being issued a visa that could lead to a green card.
This was done with a view to safeguard the health-care system for American citizens by preventing them and the American taxpayers from paying for these immigrants.
No Green Cards for Immigrants Relying on Public Benefits
In another one of his attempts to keep immigrants out of US and make their lives more difficult, the United States govt has come up with a new regulation, as per which from 24th Feb, the legal immigrants who seek food stamps and other public benefits shall be denied green cards or legal permanent residencies.
This rule on legal immigrants defines how the US government will classify a foreigner as admissible and whether he/she would be eligible to adjust their status to that of America’s lawful permanent resident, or if they could at any point in the future become a public charge.
This means that those legal immigrants who could rely primarily on the American government for subsistence, like receiving financial assistance from government to maintain their income or long-term institutionalized care at the expense of the government.
This move is taken to protect American taxpayers and safeguard welfare programmes for Americans and as per the govt, they are truly the ones in need of such welfare programmes. The move would also reduce the Federal deficit, according to the White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham.
How Will This Further Affect the Indian Nationals Living in the US?
On Friday last week, the US Supreme Court allowed the ‘public charge’ regulation, lifting the final remaining injunction. Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, the Department of Homeland Security would be able to implement this regulation from Monday.
The SC ruling would also re-establish the fundamental legal principle that newcomers to the US society should be financially self-reliant and not be dependent on United States taxpayers’ pockets.
Since as per this new rule, it is necessary for people seeking an extension, stay or change of status to demonstrate that they’ve not received any public benefits over the allowed limit since obtaining their non-immigrant status, this rule will especially impact the South Asian community, including many Indians and their families.
According to a 2018 Migration Policy Institute Report, as many as 11% non-citizen Indian families receive public benefits. All of these families and the benefits they receive will now be under the scanner.
This rule was published last year on August 14, 2019 and was originally supposed to come into effect on October 15, 2019. However, it was deferred due to various court rulings before the SC finally ruled in favor of the government.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.