A new federal regulation that took effect on Monday throughout the United States could make it more difficult for legal immigrants dependent on government assistance to obtain permanent residency permits, known as green cards.
That so-called "public charge" rule also applies to applicants for extension of non-immigrant stay in the US or change of non-immigrant status.
Amid a months-long legal battle, President Donald Trump''s administration will start enforcing the regulation, which may transform the current US immigration system into one with a heavier emphasis on criteria such as a migrants'' income, age or academic training.
Although court appeals are still pending, the measure has taken effect nationwide after the US Supreme Court last Friday lifted an injunction that had been imposed by a district court in the midwestern state of Illinois.
The high court had earlier lifted injunctions against the policy that had been imposed by courts in the states of New York, California, Washington and Maryland.
The rule will not apply to immigrants who already have green cards nor to those applying for citizenship. Refugees and people who are seeking or have been granted political asylum also are among those excluded from the restrictions.
The 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act states that aliens applying for a new visa or seeking an adjustment to their immigration status are inadmissible to the country if they are likely to become a "public charge" (financial burden to the US), a term that dates back to an 1882 immigration law.
But guidance issued by the former Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1999 explicitly stated that those receiving a range of non-cash benefits, including Medicaid (a healthcare program for low-income people), food stamps, WIC (a nutrition program for women, infants and children), unemployment insurance, housing benefits and child-care subsidies should not qualify as "public charges".
That has changed under a Trump administration rule that was announced last August and took effect nationwide on Monday.
Under that regulation, a public charge is defined as an "alien who has received one or more public benefits, as defined in the rule, for more than 12 months within any 36-month period", the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said in a fact sheet released Monday.
Those public benefits include supplemental security income, nutrition assistance (formerly called food stamps) and housing assistance, but do not include emergency medical assistance, disaster relief, national school lunch programs, the WIC program and government-subsidized student and mortgage loans, among other government assistance.
The USCIS said in its fact sheet that "the determination of an alien''s likelihood of becoming a public charge at any time in the future is a prospective determination that is based on the totality of the alien''s circumstances and by weighing all of the factors that are relevant to the alien''s case".
Those factors include age, health, family status, education and skills.
The fact sheet also said that USCIS "will also not weigh heavily in the totality of the alien''s circumstances the receipt of certain previously included public benefits (for example, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Supplemental Security Income and General Assistance) if received before Feb. 24, 2020".
But Shelby Gonzales, the director of immigration policy at the Washington DC-based Center on Budget and Policy, a progressive think tank, told Efe that the new rule will radically alter the US immigration system and turn it into one that only welcomes those with sufficient means.
She also said that the complexity of the rule will lead people who have nothing to fear from its implementation to stay away from public benefit programs.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy counsel at the American Immigration Council, which opposes Trump''s immigration policies, said the rule amounts to a "wealth test" that will favor migrants who are employed, speak English, already have acquired an education and possess significant financial resources.
He also said it could adversely affect those seeking to migrate to the US under family reunification criteria, noting that Trump is seeking to transform the country''s primarily family-based immigration system into a merit-based one.
Boundless, a Seattle based startup that assists people in applying for immigrant status in the US, said that in cases of "family preference" immigrant visas the Department of Homeland Security plans to impose financial requirements not only on the person sponsoring the applicant for a green card but also on the applicant themselves.
It added that the applicant would have to "demonstrate household income (or asset equivalent) of at least 125 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines".
This "wealth test", according to Reichlin-Melnick, could result in the arrival of more people from European countries and fewer from poor countries in Central America and Africa.
Trump''s surprise run to the White House in 2016 was fueled in part by his vow to build a wall along the US-Mexico border and take other steps to crack down on illegal immigration.
Although the president enjoys strong backing from within his own party just over eight months prior to the 2020 general election, some former supporters-turned-critics say he has not done enough in that regard.
But many Republicans also want a partial - or even total - crackdown on legal immigration, warning that conservatives will not be able to win national elections in the future due to a steadily increasing number of traditionally Democratic-voting Hispanics in Texas and other states.
(María José Pardo)