Within the space of one week, the Trump Administration took two new steps to stifle immigrants from getting public health coverage to which they are entitled. But last Friday three federal courts put on hold the Department of Homeland Security’s drastic changes to the”public charge” regulation:

On October 11, federal district courts in Spokane, WA, New York,  and California issued preliminary injunctions – two of them nationwide – to stop the public charge rule that would have counted the receipt of Medicaid and other benefits against immigrants seeking Legal Permanent Resident status beginning on October 15. While these are initial rulings in the cases, they suggest a number of grounds on which the rule is likely to be invalidated in further proceedings:  1) violation of the Administrative Procedure Act as not a reasonable interpretation of the “public charge” law as enacted by Congress and as “arbitrary and capricious,” 2) violation of the prohibitions against discrimination based on disabiity under the Rehabilitation Act, and 3) violation of the constitutional guarantee of equal protection. See The New York Times for a same-day account, and the news release from Attorney General Ferguson. Watch Protecting Immigrant Families for in-depth analysis to come.

The Administration is likely to appeal these preliminary orders. In the meantime, the public charge rule will not go into effect.

Thank you Attorney General Ferguson for leading the plaintiff states in the Washington case. NoHLA is proud to have participated in a friend-of-the-court (amicus) brief on behalf of health advocacy and public health organizations, and pleased that the brief was cited in the court’s opinion.

In other news:

• On October 4, 2019, President Trump issued a proclamation restricting immigration to the United States by people who are uninsured and cannot pay the costs of their health care. This restriction, which would operate independently of the “public charge” determination, represents the latest move by the Trump administration to curtail immigration by people who cannot pass a wealth test. This policy takes effect November 3, 2019.
  
  Like public charge, the proclamation is another brick in Trump’s invisible wall – along with other policies of hate and exclusion. Above and beyond the draconian public charge regulation, this harmful policy undermines the country’s health care and family immigration systems.

  The Migration Policy Institute crunched the numbers and posted an excellent Twitter thread, noting that the proclamation could exclude 2/3 of future immigrants. At The Washington Post, Catherine Rampell called the proclamation a “presidential twofer,” simultaneously sabotaging our health-care and immigration systems.

  For more information: https://www.nilc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/proclamation-health-insurance-2019.pdf

• On October 10, the Secretary of State adopted ahla.org/index.php/2019/n interim final rule attempting to align the U.S. public charge policy at consular offices abroad with the Department of Homeland Security policy. This also takes effect October 15, but it provides for a 30-day public comment period.

– Charlie Mitchell, NoHLA Senior Staff Attorney & Janet Varon, NoHLA Executive Director