White House announces plan to ensure immigrants are more ‘self sufficient,’ less reliant on taxpayers

Acting Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Ken Cuccinelli announced new action being taken by the Trump administration on legal immigration that will no doubt have leftists pulling their hair out.

In what was the first formal time in the press briefing room in quite some time, Cuccinelli described a “public charge” rule that will help ensure that permanent residents and those seeking citizenship in America are more self-sufficient. The rule is also meant to take some burden off of American taxpayers.

(Screenshot from Fox News)

First saying that the public charge rule was actually first introduced by Congress long before Trump took office, but it was never properly defined or implemented, Cuccinelli said consideration for green cards and residency in the United States will now be determined based on a person’s potential to be either self-sufficient or a “public charge,” meaning living off of multiple government benefits.

“Public charge is now defined in a way that ensures the law is meaningfully enforced,” Cuccinelli said. A “public charge,” according to Cuccinelli, is “an individual who receives one or more public benefits.”

Those “public benefits” include “general assistance, SSI (Supplemental Security Income), SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), most forms of medicaid, and subsidized housing.”

Also weighed in each individual’s application to enter the United States will be that person’s “age, health, family status, education, and skills.” Their “financial assets” will also be a factor.

Cuccinelli described the application process now as a “totality of circumstances test.” All of the factors described by Cuccinelli will be weighed when processing someone’s application to legally enter the United States. No one factor will determine if a person is approved or denied.

The rule is “prospective,” said Cuccinelli, and will take effect on October 15 of this year.

Cuccinelli insisted that putting “meat on the bones” of the application process is simply a way to support legal immigration.

He said the rule “better ensures that immigrants are able to support themselves as they seek opportunity here in America.”

Asked whether the Trump administration is trying to discourage legal immigration, Cuccinelli said legal immigration has actually been heavily promoted by the current administration. He said more people have become citizens this year than in the last four years.

This “totality of circumstances test” will not affect any humanitarian efforts. It will not affect refugees or asylum seekers.

Check out the press briefing below:


Source: Fox News

In an interview with Fox News Cuccinelli further described the new rule and said it promotes the “self-sufficiency” that is at the core of America’s principles.

“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.”

He added, “It will also have the long-term benefit of protecting taxpayers by ensuring people who are immigrating to this country don’t become public burdens, that they can stand on their own two feet, as immigrants in years past have done. It’s not only a recipe for their success, but for America’s success growing out of our immigration system.”

The “public charge” rule has actually been part of U.S. immigration for a long, long time, but this is the first time that the federal government has officially defined what a “public charge” is. This means that all the Trump administration has done is help better define a loose rule on the books. This helps the process of legal immigration and, quite frankly, acts as a hit against the promotion of government benefits that has gone on for far too long. Well-defined rules like this are needed to help American taxpayers live their best lives and to help people seeking to come to this country with assimilation and opportunity.

Cuccinelli told Fox News that this new move “is entirely in line with the president keeping his promises to make the immigration system work better for America.”

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