Trump Admin Rolls Out New 'Self-Reliance' Rule for Immigrants, Sets Stage for 2020
Last week, the Trump administration made headlines with a widely publicized crackdown in Mississippi on illegal immigration.
On Monday, it kicked off the new week with a proposal to take a close look at legal immigrants applying for green cards and visas.
The latest move aims to make sure immigrants can support themselves without being a burden to the taxpayers already here — and sets up a debate for the 2020 election Democrats are going to have a tough time winning.
According to CNN, the administration on Monday released more than 800 pages of a proposed immigration rule that would expand the understanding of “public charge” – immigrants seeking legal residence or green cards who would be relying on public assistance.
Now, the term is used mainly for those who rely on welfare benefits that are in cash, “such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or Supplemental Security Income from Social Security,” CNN reported.
The proposed rule would expand that to include non-cash forms of assistance, such as Section 8 housing vouchers, according to CBS News.
That could mean turning away would-be residents and potential citizens who are unable to support themselves without getting assistance from their new government.
The idea is to put a premium on potential residents and potential citizens who can make their own way. And it has a long history, as CBS News reported.
It was first codified into law 1882, according to CBS, and was included in Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 – which made immigrants considered a “public charge” subject to deportation, or barred from entering the country at all.
During the 1990s, according to CBS, a guidance from the Clinton administration limited the kind of public aid immigration officers could consider when determining whether a new resident was a “public charge.”
As he announced the new rule on Monday, Ken Cuccinelli, head of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, made it clear exactly what the intent was:
WATCH NOW: The Trump administration’s top immigration official is expected to announce a new rule that could deny green cards for immigrants on food stamps https://t.co/nENEcsyMX4 pic.twitter.com/tlnUuwCjUr
— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 12, 2019
“President Trump has once again delivered on his promise to the American people to enforce long-standing immigration law,” Cuccinelli said.
“Today, USCIS, the agency I head as part of the Department of Homeland Security, has issued a rule that encourages and ensures self-reliance and self-sufficiency for those seeking to come to, or to stay in, the United States.”
In an interview with Fox News, Cuccinelli said there was ample precedent for the administration’s actions.
“The principle driving it is an old American value, and that’s self-sufficiency,” he said. “It’s a core principle – the American Dream itself – and it’s one of the things that distinguishes us, and it’s central to the legal history in the U.S. back into the 1800s.”
Democrats are going to scream, of course. They always do.
But combined with the Mississippi raids last week that netted almost 700 illegal aliens, the Monday announcement sends a clear signal that the Trump administration is serious about dealing with immigration abuses in this country.
And if whoever the Democrats end up choosing as their nominee for the 2020 election wants to get on a national stage and argue for the rights of foreigners to come to the United States and live on the generosity of the American taxpayer, it will be a welcome debate — and won’t help the Democrats one bit.
American voters will get to see firsthand which party is actually looking out for the good of the country.
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