Acting Director of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services Ken Cuccinelli speaks during a briefing at the White House August 12, 2019, in Washington, DC.
Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images
The Trump administration Monday announced a plan to limit legal immigration that will make it harder for immigrants in the U.S. who use public assistance such as food stamps or Medicaid to obtain a green card.
The latest move to restrict immigration comes on the heels of the record-breaking raid in Mississippi last week where nearly 700 undocumented immigrants were arrested at several food processing plants around the state.
Acting Director of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ken Cuccinelli said in a press briefing Monday that the administration has revised the public charge inadmissibility rule to ensure immigrants are “self-sufficient” instead of relying on public resources.
Refugees and asylum applicants will be exempt, according to the USCIS website. But for the legal immigrants who use public benefits for more than 12 months in any 36 month period, the new plan will make it more difficult to stay in the country and secure U.S. citizenship.
The public charge inadmissibility rule has been part of the U.S. immigration law for more than 100 years but the administration on Monday redefined the parameters.
The new restrictions will apply to applications submitted on or after Oct. 15., according to a USCIS press release.
The Trump administration’s new plan could exacerbate already heightened tensions around the immigration debate.
Approximately 380 workers remain in federal custody at three different ICE processing centers in Louisiana and Mississippi after the raids last Wednesday that left children whose parents were arrested crying at schools because no one was there to pick them up. The three centers are Pine Prairie, LaSalle and Adams County, said ICE spokesman Bryan Cox.
Cox said the average length of stay in the agency’s custody is a “little more than a month” but it would depend on each individual’s pending outcome of their case before the court.
Amelia McGowan, immigration attorney at the Mississippi Center for Justice, told CNBC it would take about a month if individuals held in federal custody are able to get a bond. If they are unable to get a bond, the process can take longer, she added.
McGowan and a group of 150 attorneys in Mississippi and nationwide, are organizing to help represent people in removal proceedings in immigration courts.
Democrats have expressed outrage over the raids that left children without family members or supervision.
Sen. Kamala Harris accused President Trump’s administration of directing the DHS of conducting a “campaign of terror” on NBC News “Meet the Press” on August 11.
The House Committee on Oversight and Reform released a press release on August 9, stating that Reps. Elijah Cummings, Bennie G. Thompson and Jamie Raskin, sent a letter to the DOJ and Homeland Security, requesting documents and a briefing to investigate the recent coordinated immigration enforcement actions.
“We are concerned by reports that these enforcement actions on August 7, 2019, left many children—on their first day of school—separated from their parents and terrified because they did not know where their parents were taken and detained,” the Members wrote.
“It appears that these DOJ and ICE enforcement actions are targeting only immigrant workers and not their employers. We are alarmed by the potential serious chilling effect of these enforcement actions close in time to these workers vindicating their rights to a safe working environment.”
Multiple media outlets have reported that employers have not been charged yet.
