CHICAGO (CN) – The Seventh Circuit heard oral arguments Wednesday over the Trump administration’s policy that makes it harder for immigrants to receive green cards if they rely on public benefits like food stamps.
Joining California and New York, Cook County, Illinois, sued the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services last September over the so-called “public charge” rule determining which immigrants are considered a risk for government dependence.
The rule changes who can be considered a public charge under the Immigration and Nationality Act, including immigrants who use food stamps, housing vouchers or Medicaid for over 12 months during a three-year period.
The government could deny visas and green cards to those it deems likely to become a public charge at any time based on their use of these public benefits and a wide variety of other criteria such as English proficiency and family size.
Cook County and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, or ICIRR, were granted a preliminary injunction stopping the government from enforcing the new rule by U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman on Oct. 14, just one day before it was set to take effect.
The Barack Obama appointee said in his 33-page order that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed and that his opinion “rests not one bit on policy…[but] on a dry and arguably bloodless examination of the authorities that precedent requires courts to examine.”
Feinerman denied the government a stay pending its appeal of his decision, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 last Friday to stay the injunction.
Cook County and ICIRR’s complaint argues that immigrants will choose to forgo important services for fear of deportation, putting strain on county services such as emergency medical care.
“If allowed to go into effect, this final rule will undermine our national identity, contravene the law, and discriminate against racial minorities and people with disabilities,” the complaint adds.
The rule is not only discriminatory, but also exceeds the government’s statutory authority and is arbitrary and capricious, the plaintiffs say.
While the Trump administration defendants claim Cook County and ICIRR lack the standing to sue, their brief to the Seventh Circuit focused on the executive branch’s right to interpret the definition of a public charge.
“Numerous statutory provisions demonstrate that Congress intended to require aliens to rely on their own resources, rather than taxpayer supported benefits, to meet their basic needs,” the brief states.
The plaintiffs’ brief, on the other hand, claims “the final rule improperly redefines the term ‘public charge’ to include immigrants who receive only modest and temporary benefits, preventing these immigrants from obtaining legal permanent residence,” adding that the term was only ever meant to mean those permanently relying on assistance.
