The Supreme Court has removed a judge’s temporary block on the White House’s “public charge” immigration rule that steers the awarding of American green cards to better-educated, younger, and healthier migrants.
The January 27, 5:4 decision is a big win for President Donald Trump and his populist advisers, partly because the court also slammed lower-court judges who impose nationwide rules in lawsuits that involve a few local plaintiffs.
The decision allows the public charge rule to be applied while lower court judges hear arguments from advocates and critics. Eventually, the rule may be blocked by the judges, but it will operate for some time to exclude people — such as unskilled chain-migrants, or the elderly parents of migrants — who will likely use welfare or government-run healthcare programs.
The rule is also a win for Americans employees, whose wages are being suppressed, and housing costs are rising amid the business-backed inflow of roughly 1 million immigrant workers, consumers, and renters each year.
Americans’ kids, disabled Americans, and older Americans may also be winners because the rule will likely redirect taxpayers’ support from migrants who are unhealthy, old, and poor. In 2016, the National Academies of Science said migrants consume roughly $57 billion in aid and welfare each year.
The pending lawsuit was filed by Democrat-dominated governments in New York, Connecticut, and Vermont, as well as several pro-migration groups and immigration lawyers.
Pro-migration, pro-diversity advocates denounced Trump’s win.
“Terrible news, and an undoubtedly political opinion,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, an advocate with the American Immigration Council, adding:
The Supreme Court’s record on immigration injunctions in the Trump era is completely indefensible. There is no defensible argument that halting the public charge rule is causing irreperable harm to the government. None.
“This is a hugely important policy that targets poor and working-class immigrants who are disproportionately from Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America,” said Noah Lenard, a reporter for Mother Jones. “A district court judge found in October that it was ‘repugnant to the American Dream.'”
Democratic legislators denounced the win.
“This rule harms our children and families in communities across the country. It hurts our economy and the healthcare of so many Californians,” said a statement from California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra. “We are a nation of immigrants, so we will lean forward in the face of heartless attacks on working families.”
The text of the rules was posted on Twitter.
The public charge win complements Trump’s far-ranging campaign to block illegal migration via Mexico.