WASHINGTON, United States (CMC) — The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) says starting Monday (February 24), it will be implementing the Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds final rule denying green cards to Caribbean and other immigrants who may need US government assistance.
“In light of the US Supreme Court’s February 21, 2020 decision to stay the statewide injunction preventing implementation of the final rule issued by US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, USCIS will now apply the final rule to all applications and petitions postmarked (or submitted electronically) on or after February 24, 2020,” said USCIS in a statement on Friday.
“The final rule, published on August 14, 2019 and originally scheduled to go into effect on October 15, 2019, prescribes how the Department of Homeland Security will determine whether an alien (immigrant) is inadmissible and ineligible to adjust status to that of a lawful permanent resident in the United States because the alien is likely at any time in the future to become a public charge pursuant to section 212(a)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act,” USCIS continued.
It said the final rule also addresses USCIS’ authority to issue public charge bonds in the context of applications for adjustment of status.
USCIS said the final rule includes a requirement that Caribbean and other immigrants seeking an extension of nonimmigrant stay or change of nonimmigrant status “demonstrate that they have not received public benefits over the designated threshold”.
In response, Caribbean American Democratic Congresswoman Yvette D Clarke has expressed outrage over a United States Supreme Court ruling that allowed the Trump administration to deny green cards to Caribbean and other immigrants who may need government aid.
“As a product of the hopes and dreams of an immigrant family, I am outraged by the Supreme Court’s decision to implement the public charge rule – a cruel policy Donald Trump has crafted to jeopardise the lives of our nation’s most vulnerable,” Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, told the Caribbean Media Corporation.
“Historically, the United States has served as a place of refuge for individuals around the world seeking to fulfill the American dream,” added the representative for the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, New York.
“Immigrants are our neighbours, our friends, leaders in our communities and even our members of Congress.”
“It is disturbing to witness a global leader toying with people’s lives, and we must not stop fighting until Donald Trump is removed from office,” continued Clarke, a very ardent critic of Trump’s immigration policies.
