Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Appeals Court Rejects Trump Administration's Bid To Implement 'Public Charge' Immigration Policy
A federal appeals court in New York on Wednesday rejected a motion from the Trump administration that would have allowed it to implement a policy connecting the use of public benefits with whether immigrants could become permanent residents. The ruling from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the administration's motion to lift a temporary national injunction that had been issued by a New York district court in October after lawsuits had been filed against the new policy. (Hajela, 1/8)
The "public charge" rule unveiled last year would make it harder for immigrants who are poor or need government help to secure residency and stay in the country. Critics have said the rule would keep out disproportionately large numbers of people from Latin American, African and Asian countries. (Rosenberg and Stempel, 1/8)
Critics of the rule say it would disproportionately impact lower income immigrants and immigrants of color. "Today, the court rejected the Trump administration's claims that it cannot wait to implement its dangerous and discriminatory public charge policy change," a litigation team in the case brought by Make the Road New York, The Legal Aid Society and the Center for Constitutional Rights said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. (Silva, 1/8)
"Today's ruling enables millions of families to continue their journey of legal immigration. As an immigrant who came over for the pursuit of the American Dream, it's encouraging to see that our borders will not be open to only those who are wealthy," said Xiao Wang, co-founder of Boundless, a company that helps people navigate the country's legal immigration system. The Legal Aid Society, one of the groups spearheading the New York challenge to the regulation, praised the Manhattan-based appellate court for rejecting "the Trump administration's claims that it cannot wait to implement its dangerous and discriminatory public charge policy change." (Montoya-Galvez, 1/8)
Two similar injunctions were lifted last month by the Richmond, Va.-based 4th Circuit and the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit. Despite those decisions, however, the injunction from New York, which falls under the 2nd Circuit, continues to apply across the country. The Trump administration’s controversial approach to the public charge rule, announced in August, is one of a series of administration measures aimed at curbing legal immigration. (Kruzel, 1/8)
