States Sue Trump Over Green Cards

A massive coalition of states led by New York is suing the federal government over a drastic rewrite of the "public charge" rule. The old policy was simple: avoid granting residency to people likely to depend entirely on cash welfare checks. That standard had been in place for decades without much drama.

The new version widens the net to almost surreal proportions. Immigration officials could now deny green cards or visas for accessing virtually any legal benefit, including food stamps, housing vouchers, or Medicaid. Even an American citizen child receiving a subsidized public school lunch could technically derail their parent's path to permanent residency.

Undocumented immigrants are completely untouched by this change, since they were already barred from these programs. The policy exclusively squeezes people who reside in the country legally and pay taxes into the exact safety net they are suddenly penalized for touching.

Taxing people at full rate while punishing them for using the services they funded is certainly a bold approach to bureaucracy.

Source: CNN