Trump Rule Requires Immigrants To Become Rich Before Seeking Opportunity

Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration, demanding an immediate halt to the nation’s new plan for teaching immigrant families self-reliance through hunger, untreated illness and paperwork designed to make a mortgage application resemble a children’s menu. The Department of Homeland Security’s expanded “public charge” rule would allow immigration officers to count nearly any means-tested public benefit against certain green-card applicants, recognizing that nothing prepares a family for the American dream like learning that a pediatric appointment may constitute insufficient patriotism.

President Donald Trump described the policy as a humane effort to ensure immigrants need no help before receiving permission to pursue a life in which nearly everyone needs help. “Hunger builds tremendous character, some of the finest character, and when a child goes to a doctor, frankly, that is socialism with a thermometer,” Trump said, consolidating the administration’s immigration, economic and pediatric doctrines. New York Attorney General Letitia James, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul argued that the rule exceeds DHS authority and abandons the longstanding definition of “public charge.” The lawsuit therefore threatens the administration’s generous offer to let immigrants prove financial independence by becoming independently wealthy before obtaining legal permanent residence.

DHS responded that state and local governments merely fear losing federal money when immigrants withdraw from public programs. Hospitals, schools and grocery stores are expected to accept personal responsibility as payment, while children can settle outstanding medical bills with the character they accumulated by missing dinner. Under the new standard, immigrants must demonstrate that they require absolutely nothing from society, an eligibility test currently failed by farmers, banks, airlines, defense contractors, professional sports franchises and every corporation that has ever discovered a tax incentive. Federal officials said those groups remain exempt because accepting billions in public support is self-reliance when the paperwork is filed by lobbyists. Poverty is now conclusive evidence that a poor person has failed to be rich.

* None of the quotes in this article were spoken by an actual person. More info.