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PRESS RELEASE
The New Homeland Security Public Charge Rule Is Anti-Immigrant and Harms People of Color Disproportionately
Baltimore City Knows Because We Sued the State Department Over Their Public Charge Rule Last Year
BALTIMORE, MD. — The Trump administration recently issued the Department of Homeland Security’s final rule changing the definition of “public charge.” DHS insists that its changes are consistent with long standing immigration law and that the rule is not a new anti-immigrant policy. The evidence shows otherwise. Baltimore City sued last November to strike down a similar definition change in the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) which governs U.S. consular officers’ decisions about who may travel to the United States. Like the new DHS rule, the FAM change made excludable anyone who has ever used certain public benefits.
Since the FAM change in January 2018, immigrant visa denials skyrocketed by 300%, a drastic increase the administration expected. The Trump administration admitted in a recent court filing that the public charge expansion could “lead to individuals being denied visas on public charge grounds more frequently.”
Hispanic, African, and Asian applicants, in particular, are being denied visas at a higher rate than before the change. For example, in fiscal year 2016 only seven Mexican nationals were denied visas while more than five thousand were denied between October 2018 and June 2019.
Members of immigrant communities in Baltimore and across the country are declining to accept important health and nutrition benefits to which they are legally entitled out of a fear that they, or family members, will suffer immigration consequences. As Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young explained, “This public charge policy harms Baltimore. When some members of our community are driven into the shadows, the greater community is also harmed: public health, public safety, our culture and our economy all suffer.”
City Solicitor Andre M. Davis stated, “Baltimore City filed suit last November challenging the FAM public charge definition change as an unlawful attempt to deter our foreign-born residents from accessing government services they are legally entitled to rely upon, and to illegally reduce immigration from Latin America, Africa and Asia.”
Health Commissioner Letitia Dzirasa stated, “When portions of our community are afraid to seek out publicly funded, life-saving treatments when they or members of their family are sick, the health of the whole City is placed at risk.”
Solicitor Andre M. Davis continued, “Baltimore is thankful to our co-counsel Democracy Forward, and to the coalition of states and cities and counties and other supporters who filed amicus briefs in support of our case. We are a resource strapped City challenging the behemoth federal government, but there is a well spring of support for our mission to continue to welcome immigrants in the proudest United States tradition. We are hoping the government’s motion to dismiss our lawsuit is soon denied.”
Here's more on the briefs filed in support of our lawsuit by a coalition of 19 states led by Attorneys General Becerra and Racine, 17 cities and counties, five Maryland immigrant advocates, and 10 civil rights organizations. These briefs detail the harms caused by the State Department’s unlawful change to its public charge policy.
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