CHICAGO – The city of Chicago is joining a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration over a new immigration rule that could make some immigrants ineligible for green cards or visas if they use public benefits like food stamps, housing assistance or Medicaid.
Chicago joined a coalition led by New York City in suing the Department of Homeland Security and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services over the change to the public charge rule that are set to take effect Friday. The public charge rule allows the government to deny a person’s immigration application if they are deemed to be likely “public charges” that would overly rely on public assistance.
The cities of San Francisco and Seattle, as well as counties in California and Washington states, also joined the lawsuit, which was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
In July, the Department of Homeland Security announced changes to the public charge rule.
The new rule ends a Biden-era public charge policy that allowed authorities to consider only an applicant’s use of cash benefits, including supplemental income programs.
The new guidance allows officials to look at whether a noncitizen has used cash assistance as well as housing assistance, food stamps, financial aid for college and other public benefits or is likely to do so at “any time.” It applies to spouses and family members of United States citizens who are applying for green cards and immigrants applying for work visas, as well as religious workers, investors and other types of visas. It does not apply to those seeking asylum or Temporary Protected Statues, according to USCIS.
Those who have used or may use such benefits can have their immigration application denied under the Trump administration’s new guidelines.
Officials from several cities suing the federal government said the new rule could push away immigrant and mixed-status families from safety-net, health and housing programs, even if they are eligible for them.
“Chicago will not stand by while the federal government forces immigrant families to
choose between putting food on the table, taking their children to the doctor, or protecting
their ability to remain in this country,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement. “This rule is not only cruel, it is unlawful, and it threatens the health and safety of our entire city.”
With this change, the federal government is seeking to “radically and unilaterally change the meaning” of the term public charge, upending over a century of law and practice, the cities said in the lawsuit.
“The new federal public charge rule not only sweeps aside more than a century of established law – it is intentionally vague as a means of creating uncertainty and fear,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a news conference announcing the lawsuit Monday.
It could also cause U.S. citizens, including children of immigrants, to forgo using housing, food stamps, college financial aid and other means-based benefits they are entitled to, the municipalities said in the lawsuit.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said sanctuary states “are terrified they will lose federal funds” because immigrants might not be able to access welfare programs under the new rules.
“We’re shaking in our boots over this supposedly terrible outcome,” the spokesperson said.
Several states also sued the federal government over changes to the public charge rules during President Donald Trump’s first administration.
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