Court did not support Republicans to defend Trump’s immigration rules
2023.01.09 14:20
Court did not support Republicans to defend Trump’s immigration rules
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – On Monday, a group of Republican state officials tried to revive the hardline policy of former President Donald Trump, which prevented certain immigrants who were thought to be likely to require government benefits from obtaining legal permanent residency, but the Supreme Court turned them down.
After President Joe Biden’s administration stopped defending the measure and later rescinded it, 14 Republican state attorneys general, led by Ken Paxton of Texas, appealed a lower court ruling that denied their request to mount a legal defense of Trump’s “public charge” rule.
In February 2020, Trump’s administration implemented the policy, and Biden’s administration ended it in March 2021.
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and West Virginia’s attorneys general joined Paxton.
In a rule issued in 2019, the definition of “public charges” who were ineligible for legal U.S. permanent residency or green cards was significantly expanded by the Trump administration. Immigrants who had been receiving food stamps or the Medicaid health insurance program for the poor for more than 12 months in any three-year period were subject to the expanded restriction.
The rule was overturned by an Illinois federal judge. The Republican attempt to intervene was later rejected by the judge, who said the state officials’ request came too late, and the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed in June.
The Republican officials had told the justices that they should be able to defend Trump’s rule because it has been estimated to save states about $1 billion annually, according to them.
The Supreme Court heard arguments about a separate attempt by Republican state officials to intervene in support of Trump’s public charge rule the previous year, but the case was ultimately dismissed without resolving the issue.
Immigrants would be considered public charges only if they are likely to become primarily dependent on the government for subsistence, according to a rule that was adopted by the Biden administration in September of last year and had been in place for two decades. Texas filed a separate federal lawsuit on Thursday to challenge Biden’s rule.
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Biden’s immigration policies have been harshly criticized by Republicans, who vowed to reverse some of Trump’s strict regulations when he took office.
