DHS Public-Charge Rule Takes Effect Friday as 22 States Sue to Stop It

A Department of Homeland Security public-charge rule that expands what immigration officers may count against visa and green-card applicants is scheduled to take effect Friday, Sept. 18, unless a court stops it.

The rule rescinds the Biden-era 2022 regulation that limited public-charge analysis largely to cash welfare and long-term institutionalization. Under the new text, officers may consider receipt of means-tested benefits, including Medicaid, SNAP, and school-meal programs, and may make a forward-looking judgment about whether an applicant is likely to rely on government aid. There is no fixed checklist. The statutory hook is the public-charge provision that has been in immigration law since 1882.

New York Attorney General Letitia James leads a coalition of 22 states and the District of Columbia in a suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul are co-leads. The caption also includes Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania (through Gov. Josh Shapiro), Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and D.C.

A second case is led by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, joined by Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Santa Clara County, Calif., and King County, Wash.

James said the rule “preys on” fear and “counts on families forfeiting the food assistance, health care coverage, and other public benefits to which they are legally entitled.” She said her office “fought this exact policy once before and won.” Coalition briefs argue officers could count a U.S.-citizen child’s school lunch or Medicaid against a parent’s green-card file, producing a chilling effect, family separations, and lost federal dollars to states and cities. They say the rule exceeds the 1882 statute and is arbitrary and capricious.

DHS rejected that framing. “Let’s get this straight, sanctuary states are terrified they will lose federal funds because hundreds of thousands of illegals and noncitizens might remove themselves from American welfare programs,” the department said. Administration officials describe the change as a return to the principle that immigrants must be able to support themselves.

The rule is one piece of a wider legal-immigration reset that has included higher fees, tighter student and journalist visas, and nationality-based processing fights already in court. A Biden-appointed judge in Manhattan vacated a separate State Department freeze on immigrant visas from 75 countries in August. That opinion does not decide this DHS public-charge regulation.

Friday’s effective date means consular officers and USCIS adjudicators are supposed to apply the broader test unless an injunction issues first. James and Mamdani have asked for that injunction. The administration has not indicated it will delay implementation on its own.