California, other states sue over Trump plan to limit poor immigrants' access to green cards
Source: Washington Post
California — the state with the largest population of immigrants — filed a federal lawsuit Friday hoping to derail the Trump administration’s attempt to deny green cards and visa extensions to foreign nationals who use Medicaid, food stamps or other public assistance, or might in the future.
The lawsuit is the fourth legal challenge filed this week since administration officials rolled out a new rule on Monday that seeks to redefine who will be eligible for permanent residency and a path to full U.S. citizenship. The rule, set to take effect in mid-October, will give preference to wealthier, educated immigrants who can support themselves, and it will make it more difficult for immigrants who rely on public help or are determined to be likely to need federal assistance.
Opponents of the rule argue that punishing legal immigrants who need financial help endangers the health and safety of immigrant families — including U.S. citizen children — and will foist potentially millions of dollars in emergency health care and other costs onto local and state governments, businesses, hospitals and food banks.
“This cruel policy would force working parents and families across the nation to forego basic necessities like food, housing, and health care out of fear. That is simply unacceptable,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement on the lawsuit, which also includes as plaintiffs the District of Columbia, Maine, Pennsylvania and Oregon. “In California, we know that welcoming and investing in all communities makes our entire nation stronger. I know this being the son of hard-working, modest immigrants who likely would have been victims of this regressive policy. We will fight this unlawful rule every step of the way,”
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/california-other-states-sue-over-trump-plan-to-limit-poor-immigrants-access-to-green-cards/ar-AAFTZgp
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... in determining whether a person will become a public charge.
They already demand that citizens applying on behalf of relatives submit an Affidavit of Support.
And when I say they are racist, I mean it. They treat people who speak in accents not obviously British or Australian VERY poorly unless the USC is also present and has an "American" accent. They treated my ex with contempt, and I'd let him try to speak to the people first himself as his command of English was very good. When they got their patronizing tone with him (or a few times just started immediately as abusive) I stepped in with my Southern twang and boom -- immediate shift in attitude.
The one time they did treat me as badly as him as when their sheer incompetence made them lose his file -- it got sent to a warehouse vs the new INS office when we moved. I made a trip to the old office in person where we'd done our adjustment of status interview and they were perfectly nice to me -- heck, that office was small enough the same examiner who interviewed us was there and seemed to remember me (I'd made a comment about not wanting to move to a big city in the interview, and he referenced it when he saw that's what I'd done -- was like "Well, where the job takes you/your husband, right?"
. He gave me an internal phone number on a sticky note and told me to have the Big City Guys call it.
Okay, so yeah, supervisor in Big City INS, when I say I just drove halfway across the country and back to figure this out and here's the phone number, he asked me "How do I know this isn't your friends number?" I said "Surely you have some kind of super secret password to identify a fellow employee in the same agency? Or internal email addresses?"
He flounced off, then came back extremely apologetic. Yes that was incompetence, but what if the person he'd been dealing with didn't have the "right" accent or was afraid to get snippy back?
