The following article by Rebecca Cokley and Hannah Leibson was posted on the Center for American Progress website August 8, 2018:
In another wave of pointed attacks, the Trump administration has proposed a radical change in immigration policy that would have widespread negative consequences for people with disabilities and their families. Under current law, most immigrants seeking a green card, which grants them authorization to live and work permanently in the United States, must pass an archaic public-charge test. An individual can be designated a public charge if they are determined likely to become primarily dependent on long-term cash assistance from programs such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or institutionalized for long-term care paid for with Medicaid.
Even though the current public-charge test discriminates against immigrants with disabilities, relatively few disabled immigrants with family support in the United States fail it. But President Donald Trump is preparing to drastically expand the public-charge test, including by explicitly targeting disabled immigrants. The proposed changes harken back to a period when the federal government used the test to deny permanent residency to individuals it deemed “degenerates,” such as LGBTQ immigrants, and other groups seen as “morally deficient,” including unmarried mothers.
Disabled immigrants would bear the brunt of the Trump’s rule
President Trump’s proposed rule redefines public charge to include any green card applicant who is found likely to receive “any government assistance in the form of cash, checks or other forms of money transfers, or instruments and non-cash government assistance in the form of aid, services, or other relief, that is means-tested or intended to help the individual meet basic living requirements.” Under this more expansive definition, most people who are potentially eligible for income-tested programs that support work, health, and integration would fail the test. Such programs include but are not limited to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC); the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP); Medicaid; Medicare Part D; and the Affordable Care Act’s premium tax credit for people purchasing health insurance. According to a recent Center for American Progress estimate, President Trump’s proposed test is so restrictive that about one-third of the U.S. population—more than 100 million people—would fail were they required to take it today.