![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/RobBontaAP.jpg\")
<\/p>\nCalifornia officials say expanded public-charge rules could affect immigrant families, healthcare and schools.<\/p>\n
Sep 14, 2026<\/p>\n
Updated 2:40 pm PT<\/p>\n
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California Attorney General Rob Bonta during a Sept. 8, 2025, news conference. On Monday, Bonta and other state officials announced a lawsuit against the Trump administration over immigration policy.\u00a0(Damian Dovarganes\/AP Photo)<\/p>\n
California and Bay Area counties sued the Trump administration<\/a> Monday over its latest attempt to restrict immigration by expanding the ability of enforcement agents to deny entry into the U.S. based on wealth.<\/p>\n Companion lawsuits filed in New York federal court Monday by a nationwide coalition of state and local law enforcement officials allege that a rule change set to take effect Friday would unlawfully upend years of immigration policy, and could have reverberating negative effects on local medical systems, schools and economies.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a cruel policy designed to force immigrant families to forgo healthcare and food assistance programs out of fear that using them could jeopardize their immigration status,\u201d California Attorney General Rob Bonta said, announcing the suits alongside San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu and Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti. \u201cThe Trump administration cannot take this unlawful action.\u201d<\/p>\n The lawsuits challenge the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s expansion of whom it deems a \u201cpublic charge,\u201d a term used to describe a noncitizen who relies primarily on government benefits. U.S. immigration law allows the government to deny a visa or green card based on that policy.<\/p>\n In public charge determinations historically, DHS has been able to consider only cash-assistance programs and long-term institutional care through Medi-Cal. Under the new \u201cpublic charge\u201d rule issued<\/a> in July, however, they\u2019ll also be able to account for income-based benefits, like Medicaid, food and housing assistance, and free and reduced-price school lunch programs.<\/p>\n If thousands leave Medi-Cal, SNAP and CalFresh programs, it could cost San Francisco millions in federal reimbursements alone, Chiu said Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cThis rule will strain San Francisco\u2019s Human Services Agency, our Department of Public Health, Disability and Aging Services, and other city departments who serve our most vulnerable,\u201d Chiu said. \u201cWe are asking the court to vacate this rule, to permanently block its enforcement, and to affirm what the law has long made clear.<\/p>\n \u201cSan Francisco will always welcome immigrants from every corner of the world,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe will always defend their right to live here safely, with dignity, and without fear.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789422851_5_RobBontaAP.jpg\")
California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks to reporters as Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, left, and Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, right, listen outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 5, 2025.\u00a0(Mark Schiefelbein\/AP Photo)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/20260511-YICKWOCOMMEMORATION-JY-05-KQED.jpg\")
City Attorney David Chiu speaks during a press conference at the parking lot on 3rd and Harrison streets in San Francisco on May 11, 2026, to commemorate the 140th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court case Yick Wo v. Hopkins.\u00a0(Juliana Yamada for KQED)<\/p>\n