Backdoor rule to target poor migrants

President Trump has revived a 19th-Century rule targeting hundreds of thousands of poor immigrants deemed likely to become “public charges,” with dependence on public benefits


Public charges: Foreign nationals who receive one or more designated public benefit* for
more than 12 months within any 36-month period

$2.47 billion
Estimate that public charge rule will save annually by dissuading migrants from legally using health or food aid

250% 
Income needs to be above 250% of poverty line – $12,490 for individuals, $25,750
for family of four – to pass public charge test

Seven in 10 
Number of recent legal immigrants from Mexico and Central America (71%) who would not clear 250% threshold, compared with 34% of those from Canada and 25% from India

9.5 million
Number of families with children on SNAP food stamps


Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” – Emma Lazarus’s 1883 sonnet
“The New Colossus”


*Public benefits include Supplemental Security Income, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme (SNAP), and most forms of Medicaid and public housing programmes


Sources: Reuters, New York Times 
Picture: Associated Press
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