The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the Trump administration “public charge” immigration rule case after the Justice Department said it will no longer defend it.
March 9 (UPI) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the Trump administration “public charge” immigration rule case after the Justice Department agreed to drop it. President Joe Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, expanded the term “public charge,” under his administration’s Department of Homeland Security in August 2019, making it harder for low-income immigrants to obtain green cards to enter the country. The expanded rule allowed officials to deny visas and green cards to individuals for their reliance on non-cash public assistance benefits such as food stamps, Medicaid, and government subsidized housing. Previously, the rule only applied to cash benefits. Under the Trump administration, DHS appealed lower court orders finding expansion of the public charge term unlawful, but the Justice Department’s Acting Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the Supreme Court in a brief letter Tuesday that both sides have agreed the challenge should be dismissed. “The Biden Administration has rightfully withdrawn the government appeals of appellate court decisions enjoining the Trump DHS’s public charge rule, clearing the way at last for this unlawful rule to no longer be enforced,” the Legal Aid Society, along with other litigants, including constitutional rights and immigrant rights groups, who had challenged the Trump administration’s public charge rule, said in a statement.
