CAPS: Rule That Tightens Self-Sufficiency Requirements for Legal Aliens Is A Step in the Right Direction

Ventura, CA (August 14, 2019) The Trump Administration has laid out a new rule to tighten “self-sufficiency” requirements for non-citizens living in the United States to prevent them from becoming “public charges” who use government welfare benefits.

According to Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, “a public charge is now defined as an individual who receives one or more designated public benefits for more than 12 months in the aggregate within any 36-month period.”

The rule, according to Cuccinelli, will allow immigration officers to “consider an alien’s current and past receipt of the designated public benefits while in the United States as a negative factor when examining applications.” It will take effect starting on October 15th of this year.

Californians for Population Stabilization Executive Director Ric Oberlink said:

“The administration is taking a step in the right direction at making sure non-citizens are not a strain on our public welfare system. When over 60 percent of immigrant households use at least one welfare program, updating the ‘public charge’ requirement is long overdue. We still have millions of Americans, including veterans, who rely on welfare benefits and scarce social services.

“The new rule simply asks that immigrants not rely on taxpayers for welfare benefits.”

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