The Donald Trump Government plans to reactivate a rule originating in 2020 that would deny permanent residence (Green Card) to immigrants who use American public services, such as food stampsMedicare health insurance, among other government assistance.
This rule, formally published this July 20 and which will come into force on September 18, seeks to affect people who, According to the authorities, they are considered “a burden” for the United States.
The rule originated in February 2020, when Donald Trump sought, during his first presidential term, limit the use of public services by immigrants.
However, Joe Biden’s Government annulled that rule. Subsequently, the Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposed it again in 2025.
In fact, USCIS recently posted on social media that the federal government “is reaffirming the self-sufficiency requirement, protecting public resources and ending policies that fostered dependency at the expense of American taxpayers.
In itself, immigrants are required to provide evidence to corroborate that will not be “a public charge”“However, this rule seeks to expand the reasons why they could lose permanent residence.
Although, in principle, the rule does not specify what programs or benefits could affect the residence of immigrants, it does indicate that the authorities will “individual and fact-specific determinations of public charge inadmissibility, based on the totality of the alien’s circumstances“.
He adds that the authorities “will use good judgment and discretion to evaluate, more accurately, whether an alien becomes a public charge“.