Chris Lange, FISM News

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The Biden administration on Thursday announced another Trump-era immigration policy rollback that restricted the admissibility of noncitizens whose reliance on social service programs would create an economic burden for U.S. taxpayers.

Section 212(a)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act under Trump would have disqualified noncitizens for admission if they were “likely at any time to become a public charge,” or economic burden, through the use of taxpayer-funded social service programs like Medicaid and SNAP.

Under the new rule, which will go into effect Dec. 23, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will only designate green card applicants as a public charge if “they are likely at any time to become primarily dependent on the government for subsistence.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) described the new rule as one that restores “the historical understanding of a ‘public charge’ that had been in place for decades, until the prior administration began to consider supplemental public health benefits such as Medicaid and nutritional assistance.”

“This action ensures fair and humane treatment of legal immigrants and their U.S. citizen family members,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas said in a DHS press release Thursday.

“Consistent with America’s bedrock values, we will not penalize individuals for choosing to access the health benefits and other supplemental government services available to them,” Mayorkas continued.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ur M. Jaddou said the policy “treats all those we serve with fairness and respect.

“Though there is still much to do to overcome confusion and fear, we will continue to work to break down barriers in the immigration system, restore faith and trust with our immigrant communities, and eliminate excessive burdens in the application process,” Jaddou said.

The Trump administration’s public charge rule resulted in a drop in enrollments for government benefits by certain individuals, including “U.S. citizen children in mixed-status households…not subject to the public charge ground of inadmissibility,” the DHS said. These presumably negative effects will be mitigated through the publication of the new rule in the Federal Register “by formally codifying the historical understanding of the term,” according to the release.

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra also chimed in to laud the changes, calling Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) essential services.

“People who qualify for Medicaid, CHIP, and other health programs should receive the care they need without fear of jeopardizing their immigration status,” Becerra said in a release.

Children’s Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure added that the new policy “reinforces a core principle of the Biden-Harris Administration: that healthcare is a right, not a privilege, and no one should be deterred from accessing the care they need out of fear.” 

This article was partially informed by The Hill and Newsmax reports.