WASHINGTON, DC – FWD.us President Todd Schulte issued the following statement today after the Supreme Court issued a ruling allowing the Trump Administration to implement their changes to the ‘public charge’ rule:
“The Trump Administration’s changes to public charge are a backdoor effort to cut legal immigration, essentially creating a wealth test for individuals looking to come to the U.S. to contribute to our country and build a better life for themselves. Today’s decision by the Supreme Court to uphold this policy will make life exponentially more difficult for many aspiring Americans who are working to become citizens, and will make it substantially harder for future immigrants to come here through existing legal channels. This policy is a backdoor effort to cut legal immigration and will hurt millions of families (including native-born Americans), our communities, and our economy. We strongly urge the Trump Administration to reconsider their position on the public charge rule.”
Background
Earlier this month, FWD.us, in partnership with a diverse group of more than 100 companies and associations, filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit highlighting the harmful economic impacts of the Trump Administration’s proposed changes to the public charge policy. Signers include Boundless Immigration, Levi Strauss, Microsoft, Twitter, and Warby Parker. They collectively represent roughly one million American workers, and generate more than one trillion dollars in revenue.
If the public charge rule goes into effect, immigrants who are already living in the U.S. legally could be denied a temporary visa or a green card if they have poor credit scores, earn less than a comfortable middle-class salary, are over the age of 61, have debt of any kind, or lack previous educational degrees, among many other disqualifying factors. In October of 2019, 5 federal courts ruled against the government and blocked DHS from implementing its version of the public charge rule. Most recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit upheld an injunction on the rule entered by a federal district judge in New York. Despite this, the Trump Administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow the rule still to be implemented.