A federal court in New York has blocked the Trump administration’s “public charge” rule amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, ruling that “as a direct result” of the discriminatory policy letting the federal government more easily deny green cards to working immigrant families that it believes may use public benefits, “immigrants are forced to make an impossible choice between jeopardizing health and personal safety or their immigration status.
“Doctors and other medical personnel, state and local officials, and staff at nonprofit organizations have all witnessed immigrants refusing to enroll in Medicaid or other public funded health coverage, or forgoing testing and treatment for COVID-19,” Judge George B. Daniels wrote according to BuzzFeed News, “out of fear that accepting such insurance or care will increase their risk of being labeled a public charge.”
While the Supreme Court in January allowed the Trump administration to enforce the discriminatory rule as litigation continued, a coalition of advocates including New York Attorney General Letitia James returned to the high court on an emergency basis in light of the pandemic. “While the Supreme Court did not halt its own order, the court gave Attorney General James and the coalition permission to take the request back to the district court,” her office said in a statement.
“At the end of April, Attorney General James and the coalition filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, which the court granted today, ordering that DHS is ‘enjoined from enforcing, applying, implementing, or treating as effective the Rule for any period during which there is a declared national health emergency in response to the COVID-19 outbreak,’” her office continued.
“Much has significantly changed since January 27,” Judge Daniels said in his ruling according to advocates including Legal Aid Society, Center for Constitutional Rights, Make the Road New York, and National Immigration Law Center. “Today, the world is in the throes of a devastating pandemic, triggered by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In six months, approximately 16.5 million people around the globe have been afflicted by the disease caused by this virus. That disease (COVID-19) has claimed over 650,000 lives worldwide. In the United States alone, COVID-19 has spread rapidly, infecting over four million people. Close to 150,000 American residents have died. All of these staggering numbers continue to climb on a daily basis.
“Thousands continue to die indiscriminately,” he continued. “Attempting to effectively combat this plague has immediately come in conflict with the federal government’s new ‘public charge’ policy, a policy which is intended to discourage immigrants from utilizing government benefits and penalizes them for receipt of financial and medical assistance.”
It’s unclear whether the administration will appeal, but for now it’s a major win for families and their advocates.
“The court’s decision recognizes that every member of our communities, including immigrants, must be able to access the tools they need to keep themselves healthy and safe,” National Immigration Law Center staff attorney Joanna E. Cuevas-Ingram said. “This is a great victory and we will not rest until these hateful, unlawful, and discriminatory regulations are gone for good.” From New York Attorney General Letitia James: “This order is vital to our national health, as every person who doesn’t get the health coverage they need today risks infecting another person with the coronavirus tomorrow.”