Starting Friday, Sept. 18, immigration officers reviewing many green card applications can consider an applicant's use of Medicaid, food assistance, housing aid, and other income-based benefits under a Department of Homeland Security final rule. The rule applies to applications for admission made on or after that date and to adjustment of status applications postmarked or submitted electronically on or after that date.
The change arrives amid legal uncertainty. On Monday, Sept. 14, New York Attorney General Letitia James led 21 other states and the District of Columbia in suing to block it. New York City filed a separate lawsuit with Chicago, San Francisco, Santa Clara County, Seattle, King County in Washington, and the Public Rights Project. Both cases were filed in federal court in Manhattan. As of Sept. 15, an immigration law firm noted, no publicly reported court order had blocked the rule, and filing a lawsuit does not by itself delay its effective date.
