Trump Administration Finalizes Misguided Approach to Public Charge Rule | American Enterprise Institute– www.aei.org

A longstanding law generally bars immigration by any person who, in the “opinion” of the government, “is likely at any time to become a public charge.” This law, commonly called the public charge rule, seeks to prevent potential immigrants from imposing undue fiscal burdens on American taxpayers. In a previous blog post, I discussed the Trump administration’s misguided proposal to change the regulations that implement the public charge rule. After receiving public comments, the administration has now finalized the proposed regulation without change, slating it to take effect on September 18.

The administration’s own analysis of the new regulation indicates that it will serve no legitimate purpose because it will rarely affect people who are subject to the public charge rule. However, confusion created by the regulation will prompt many people who are not subject to the public charge rule, including some US citizens, to forego government benefits to which they are legally entitled.