ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL OPPOSES NEW PUBLIC CHARGE RULE THAT THREATENS LEGAL IMMIGRATION STATUS

ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL OPPOSES NEW PUBLIC CHARGE RULE THAT THREATENS LEGAL IMMIGRATION STATUS

December 19, 2025

Chicago - Attorney General Kwame Raoul co-led a coalition of 20 attorneys general in opposing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) proposed cancellation of the "public charge" rule, which prohibited immigration officials from considering the use of non-cash public benefits such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid, when determining whether a noncitizen can obtain or keep legal immigration status. The proposed rule, if finalized, would cause uncertainty in the immigration system and discourage eligible immigrants and their families from accessing health, nutrition and housing programs.

"This proposed rule is another attempt by the Trump administration to intimidate immigrants," Raoul said. "Immigrants and their families should not have to fear accessing programs that they are legally entitled to and that protect their health and well-being. I join my fellow attorneys general in opposing this cruel and unlawful proposal."

Longstanding guidance by the federal government has defined a "public charge" as a person who is primarily and permanently dependent on either public cash assistance for income maintenance or institutional long-term care at the government's expense. Under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act, a noncitizen who is likely to become a public charge is generally inadmissible to the United States and ineligible to become a lawful permanent resident.

In 2019, the Trump administration sought to radically expand the definition of a public charge to include the use of healthcare through federally-funded Medicaid, nutrition and food support through SNAP, and Section 8 housing assistance. This rule was successfully challenged by Illinois and other states and later reversed by the Biden administration.

Trump's DHS is now seeking to eviscerate existing regulations by rescinding the Biden-era "public charge" rule, while calling its unlawful 2019 rule "overly restrictive," creating uncertainty in the immigration system and inviting arbitrary enforcement. In the proposal, DHS suggests that it intends to give immigration officials broad discretion to consider a range of factors in making public charge determinations, allowing immigration officers to consider receipt of non-cash benefits such as food stamps, Medicaid, and Section 8 housing assistance as one of the many factors in determining whether an individual can be disqualified from receiving a green card or other legal immigration status as a "public charge."

The attorneys general argue that this change would lead many individuals to avoid benefits they, or their families, are eligible for if they fear receiving these benefits might jeopardize their lawful immigration status. Without access to preventative health coverage, many of these noncitizens would access care in only the most dire, costly, and emergency situations. The rule would also harm U.S. children in mixed-status families, who rely on the health, nutrition, and stability provided by benefits received by their noncitizen parents or caregivers. While the proposed rule would cause disenrollment, the underlying medical, housing, and nutrition needs will not disappear. They will become uncompensated care and emergency assistance that state and local governments absorb.

In their comments, Attorney General Raoul and the coalition assert that the proposed rule will harm their states, residents and public health. They argue that the proposed rule is a departure from Congress and the courts' interpretations of "public charge," is contrary to law, is the result of an arbitrary and capricious change in longstanding policy and should be withdrawn.

Attorney General Raoul co-led the comments with the attorneys general of California, Minnesota and New York. Joining them in submitting the comments are the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.